Some People Change Part I: Taris
by Elina Trevisan
Summary: After being pushed into Republic service, Catra Nasan's ship is destroyed, landing her behind enemy lines. She and her fellow survivor must find the missing Jedi Bastila and get off the planet before the Sith take drastic measures. LSFRevan *NEW VERSION*
1. Prologue

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Notes: Alright, sorry for the wait, everyone. Lots of stuff has happened, but I hope to be able to get back into the swing of things soon. In any case, I'm back in the fanfiction game with a revamp of this story. Since I first wrote it (was it really almost three years ago?), I have become much better as a writer, so I felt it really needed it. I can't guarantee any sort of schedule, since I'm working, going to school, and working on my original fiction as well. In any case, my regular beta should be coming back and become available in either November or December, and I hope to be caught up by then so that I can start posting new chapters. Until then, please enjoy Some People Change 2.0!

Part 1: Taris

Prologue

_A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...  
__Four thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Republic verges on collapse. Darth Malak, last surviving apprentice of the Dark Lord Revan, has unleashed an invincible Sith armada upon an unsuspecting galaxy.  
__Crushing all resistance, Malak's war of conquest has left the Jedi Order scattered and vulnerable as countless Knights fall in battle, and many more swear allegiance to the new Sith master.  
__Fearing the worst, the Jedi and the Republic fleet have placed all of their hopes and fears into one woman. She lies healing in a small hospital, unaware of the part she has to play in the events to come._

* * *

Catra opened her eyes, thought better of the action, and closed them again immediately. The room was bright, causing her eyes to sting and water. Every slight sound or movement made her head ache. Since she wasn't able to see anything, she focused on her other senses in an attempt to discover what was going on. Wherever she was, it was cold. She was covered in a rough blanket and lying on a hard bed. The room smelled strongly of disinfectants. She also thought that she smelled something familiar on her breath, but she couldn't identify it.

"Doctor," a male voice said. She heard cloth rustling, footsteps, and then the voice was closer. The pain in her head twinged at the sound, and she wished he hadn't walked over. "I think that she's conscious."

"This is amazing," a woman said. Catra heard footsteps as someone else approached her. There were a series of soft beeps, probably from some sort of computer. "She's healing at a remarkable rate. I thought that she would have to stay in the kolto tank for another two weeks, at least." At this comment, Catra realized what her breath smelled like. Kolto. Of course. Not an unusual smell, if there were doctors around, and its presence on her breath made sense, if she'd been in a tank.

"Doctor," the man repeated, sounding irritated.

"Oh, yes, of course." Catra heard a slight rustling of cloth near her ear and then one of her eyes was pried open. After a brief flash of light, it was allowed to close again. "Pupil dilation for the left eye is good." The procedure was repeated in the other eye. "Both eyes. Very good." There was another series of beeps. "Temperature is normal. Blood pressure is normal. Brain activity is…"

"I think that she's fine, doctor," the man said sharply. Catra opened her eyes again and forced them to stay open this time, pushing aside the pain. Once her vision had cleared, she saw a man in brown Jedi robes standing next to a woman in a doctor's uniform.

"Hello," the woman said, smiling kindly at her. "How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?" Catra asked, her voice hoarse.

"You're in a hospital on Polmanar. I'm Dr. Dreiz."

"Hospital?" Catra murmured. Like she'd thought. Of course, where else would there be kolto tanks? Polmanar sounded familiar enough, too. She'd been there before, hadn't she? Yes, regularly. It was where she'd been going on this trip, after all. Or was it? Something about that seemed off, but she couldn't tell what. She closed her eyes again and pushed the misgivings from her mind. She opened them again and focused on the doctor.

"That's right. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was… in the cockpit," Catra said. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. It took a moment. Images were swirled together in her mind, but after a bit they seemed to settle into something coherent. Alarms, shaking, the sharp scent of burnt wires... that felt right. "There was a flash of light. An explosion?"

"You're correct," the Jedi said. "There was a malfunction in your ship's sublight engines when you went into hyperspace. It didn't cause any problems while they were off and you were using the hyperdrive. Then you arrived in orbit and switched to sublight again. It was a problem with power distribution, which caused a surge. Once it reached your fuel stores, it blew apart half your ship. You were lucky to survive. Your ship had already cleared the atmosphere by the time of the explosion, so you were just falling to the ground. We managed to find you before you hit the ground, and slow your descent, otherwise you would have been killed. You very nearly were, actually."

"A power surge?" Catra muttered, more to herself than the Jedi. It would explain the explosion, but... it didn't make sense, somehow.

"Yes."

"Where's my ship?"

"I'm afraid that there isn't much left of it. At this point, it would cost more to repair it than you could earn by selling it for scrap. Most of your possessions were lost." He kicked at a brown duffel bag that sat next to him. "This is all that we were able to salvage. The remains of your ship are at the Republic outpost, so that you may decide what to do with them."

Catra bit her lip. This man was a Jedi, champions of justice and all that, but she had to know. "I had… some cargo," she said hesitantly.

"The spice was destroyed in the explosion. We found trace amounts of it in the wreckage, but your shipment is gone."

Catra closed her eyes. All of that glitterstim, gone. The Hutts were going to have her head on a platter. That was going to be her last shipment, too. With the credits she was going to earn from that run, she had been planning to retire. She could go live on some out-of-the-way Rim world and try to avoid the bounty hunters that would inevitably follow. Even with the Sleheyron Hutts off of her back thanks to this latest shipment, the Republic (not to mention at least a dozen various other more minor groups) still had their problems with her.

She opened her eyes again and looked at the Jedi. "I suppose that you're going to arrest me now?"

"Not now!" The doctor said, moving to stand protectively between her patient and the Jedi. "She needs rest, something you can't get in jail. I don't know exactly what she's done, but-"

"I'm not here to make an arrest," the Jedi said, holding out a reassuring hand to the doctor. "Madam, please get back to your work," he said to the doctor, nodding to the door.

"I think that my work is here," she said firmly. She folded her arms across her chest defiantly.

"If you're concerned about the safety of your patient, I can assure you that she will be perfectly fine. However, I have something that I need to discuss with her in private. Please." He raised his arm to indicate the door.

The doctor bit her lip and looked between Catra and the Jedi. Catra shrugged at her. It wasn't as if the Jedi was likely to kill her while the woman was gone, and avoiding arrest was only postponing the inevitable. She could hardly exact an escape in her current state. She wasn't even sure she could sit up. "Fine," the doctor muttered. "But we do have security cameras here."

"I only wish to speak with her." The doctor spared one look back at her patient before walking out the door. The Jedi followed her to the door and closed it behind her. He pulled a datapad from his robes and began to read. "Catra Nasan, smuggler. Wanted for charges of smuggling, escaping from justice, breaking and entering into a Republic base, assault, murder, and… well… the list goes on. With the combination of all of these charges, the punishment is death." Catra nodded, but didn't respond. There were always appeals, and she would be unlikely to receive anything worse than a life sentence, anyway. He was trying to frighten her. She wasn't sure if it was working. "As you well know, I am a member of the Jedi Order, and could easily take you into custody so that you may receive this sentence." He tucked the datapad back into his robes. "What would you give to receive a full pardon?"

Catra's eyes widened and she sat up, ignoring the lightheaded feeling that came with it and the spots that appeared in her vision. If it had been anyone else, she would have thought that they were joking, but he was a Jedi, and seemed quite serious. "Why would the Republic want to give me a pardon?"

"You know that we're at war. Darth Malak's forces gain more ground each day. The Fleet could use someone of your… expertise. Special consultants are being hired every day."

"I'm a criminal. How will you ensure my loyalty?"

He smiled slightly at her candor. "You may be, but you appear to have no ties to the Sith, and have worked against them on occasion." She recognized this as true, and did not refute it. His smile turned to a smirk. "Besides, your record will not be wiped clean until after you have given five years of service to the Republic forces. All arrest warrants will simply be suspended. We will also do something about your… unofficial… bounties."

"Sounds like a pretty good deal. What's the catch?"

"There is no catch." Catra looked him over. His hands were clasped together, his knuckles white, the tendons standing out, and one thumb moved rhythmically against the other. His eyes remained fixed upon hers, never straying. He was hardly even blinking.

Catra snorted, but didn't respond. He wasn't likely to talk about whatever it was, and this at least gave her a chance to escape eventually. "When do I start?"

The Jedi smiled. "As soon as you are discharged, you will be sent to a training academy, where you will be given an accelerated introductory course. We want you working as soon as possible. Welcome to the fleet, Ensign Nasan."

Catra groaned.


	2. Ch 1: Endar Spire

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Author's note: Hello again, everyone. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. There are a number of excuses that I could use, but I won't. I'll just say that I'm going to try to do better. This chapter has a lot of important setup for the story, but I'm actually not very happy with some parts. Specifically, I don't like how Carth came out. He just doesn't seem… Carthy enough. He seems more like himself in later chapters though, don't worry. Also, this chapter is shorter than most of the others, but only by about three hundred words. I do like some of the things in this chapter, though.

Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed, and even those who didn't review but still put this story on their alert list. If anyone has any questions (about anything; story, characters, whatever) then just let me know. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Catra looked up at the huge capital ship from her seat in the shuttle. She had spent six weeks in a training course just for this. The coursework, very boring to her, had been quite simple. It had also been accelerated for her, as it normally would have taken three months to complete it.

She hugged her small bag of possessions closer to her chest. The accident had taken her weapons, her equipment, and most of her clothes. All of her journals were gone. It was as if her entire life had been taken from her. All that she had now was what she had bought in those six weeks from the salvage of her ship. Two new vibroblades hung from her hips, along with a new blaster and new armor. Everything seemed so strange.

"Hi," the man beside her said. "Are you new to the fleet?"

She turned back to him. He couldn't be more than twenty years old. He had the feeling of innocence that most of the new recruits from the Academy did. Fresh from the farm. "Yes," she said calmly. "I am."

"Yeah, me too. But what a first post! The _Endar Spire_, with Bastila Shan!"

"Bastila Shan?" Catra said curiously. "I didn't realize that she was going to be on this ship."

"Yep. The last hope of the Republic, and the slayer of Revan!"

Catra tilted her head curiously. Yes, Bastila had killed Revan, and her Battle Meditation ability was going to be very useful for the Republic, but was she really the last hope? That sounded rather pessimistic to Catra. "I suppose so," she finally said. Her voice betrayed none of her thoughts on the matter. "That was only a few months ago, wasn't it?"

"Yeah! Isn't this exciting?"

"A real bundle of fun," she muttered, turning back to the window. In all honesty, Catra would have gone running straight for Nar Shaddaa if it weren't for the fact that she'd made a deal. Her work in the fleet was bound to be boring. Unless, that is, they had the sense to take her off to the front lines. That would have been nice.

"What did you do before joining the fleet?" he asked, seeming like an overexcited puppy.

"Oh, this and that," Catra said dismissively. She didn't want to be parading her previous work to anyone who was curious. "I was mostly in shipping." It wasn't exactly a lie. She had shipped lots of items. They just… hadn't been exactly legal. "I did some computer contracting occasionally. Nothing too interesting. What about you?" She was eager to get him to change the subject.

"Oh, my family were farmers on Dantooine." He looked up in surprise as the shuttle began to shake slightly. "Oh look, we're docking!" He stood up quickly and rushed towards the door, bouncing on the heels of his feet. The doors opened and everyone began to get out. Catra stood up slowly, waiting at the back of the crowd. Once everyone exited, they were each issued their assignments, as well as things like cafeteria hours, their room assignments, and a map of the _Spire_. She went straight to her assignment.

**Assignment: Linguistic Advisor**

Well, that was guaranteed to be boring. Sure, Catra spoke lots of languages, but so did other people. She would be of much more use working with computers or droids. Maybe even as a combat instructor. She sighed and read on.

**Commanding Officer: Padawan Bastila Shan**

**Report at 1300 standard hours to Room D12, C Deck**

Catra's eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Bastila Shan herself? Why would she need a 'Linguistic Advisor'? No, there had to be more to this story than meets the eye. Maybe she would be doing something that they didn't want on the records. That was possible. It would explain why they needed an ex-smuggler for whatever this job was. Yes, that must be it. She supposed that since she had a few hours until she had to report, she ought to get situated in her quarters. She headed off towards the crew quarters.

When she entered her room, she saw a half unpacked standard-issue duffel bag on one of the beds. However, there was no one in the room. She shrugged her shoulders and placed her own bag on the unoccupied bed. A small footlocker stood at the foot of her bed, so she began to place some of her gear inside when the door behind her opened.

"Ah," a woman said as Catra began to turn around. "You must be my new bunkmate. Wait a minute… Catra?"

"Huh?" Catra looked at the woman standing there and looked her over. Her long ash-blonde hair had been drawn into a twist at the back of her head, and her brown eyes looked curiously at Catra. "Loranna?" Loranna and Catra had been roommates during Catra's brief training course. For those entire six weeks, Loranna had been determined to become friends with her new roommate. Towards the end of the course, she had finally been able to succeed. "Why didn't you tell me that you were going to the _Endar Spire_?" Catra asked.

"I didn't think that you were going to finish in time to come along!" She ran up and hugged her friend. "What are the odds?"

"Who knows. You must be excited," Catra said, sitting down on the bed. "A mission with real live Jedi."

"Yeah," Loranna beamed. She was a huge admirer of the Jedi, Bastila especially. "I don't get to see them very often, though. They never come into the medbay."

"What, do they have a private medbay?"

"Yes, actually. Shame." Catra couldn't help but chuckle. Loranna gave her a slight glare, but there was no real irritation behind it. "Well, what about you? Anything new happening?"

"Not since you last saw me five days ago, no."

"No young men in your life?"

Catra groaned. Loranna was violently single, and was constantly trying to set up Catra as well. "No. I told you, I'm not interested in dating."

"Don't be ridiculous, everyone's interested in dating. But don't worry about anything, this ship has some nice-looking guys that I'm sure will be interested in you."

"I'd prefer if that weren't true."

Loranna gave a long-suffering sigh. "You know, Catra, I can't help you if you don't try to help yourself. You make this all very difficult."

"Good. Difficult for you might mean that you give up soon."

"I know!" Loranna said, sitting up quickly and ignoring Catra's last words. "Let's go eat some lunch. You can see what the _Spire_ has to offer while we're eating!"

"I am a little hungry," Catra admitted.

"Then it's decided! Let's go!" With that, she grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her off towards the mess hall.

- - - - -

Commander Carth Onasi sunk down into his chair wearily. He had just managed to get out of a five-hour meeting with the Jedi. It was meant to be less than an hour long. His job as the official Jedi liaison (read: babysitter) was proving to be more tiresome than when he'd been dropped behind enemy lines and not managed to get any sleep for three days.

He picked up his fork and prodded at the food on his plate. None of it seemed very appetizing. He looked up when he heard a tray hit the table. "Bastila?" he asked.

"Hello, Commander," the young woman said. Carth marveled at how such a young woman could be so important. She was only nineteen, and she seemed to possess the natural beauty that many Jedi had. Her pale creamy skin enhanced the color of her light blue eyes, while her brown hair was pulled away from her face. "I trust that I'm not disturbing you?"

"No, not really," Carth said. Bastila had never come to him just to chat, so he obviously had more work coming his way. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I thought it would be necessary to inform you. I've requested a new advisor attached to this mission. She was sent up today with some other recruits."

Carth sighed. It was always something with these Jedi. "When was this advisor added to the mission, exactly?"

"Approximately ten hours ago."

"What?" Carth shouted. A few people turned to look at him, so he dropped his voice quickly. "Why didn't you bring her on earlier, when we would have had more time?"

"She only completed her training yesterday."

Carth took a deep breath and counted to ten. This woman was driving him to an early grave. "Who is this advisor, that they're so crucial to this mission?"

"She's a linguistic advisor." Bastila looked over his shoulder for a moment, and then pulled a datapad from her robes. "Here's her file. I trust that you will fill out all the necessary forms?" Without waiting for an answer, she stood up, leaving her tray on the table, and nearly ran from the mess hall. Carth opened up the main file of the datapad and skipped over the unimportant information like height, weight, eye color, and went straight on to what mattered.

**Name: Catra Nasan**

**Rank: Ensign**

**Age: 31**

**Current Assignment: Linguistic Advisor**

**Marital Status: Unknown**

**Next of Kin: Unknown**

**Homeworld: Unknown**

**Previous Assignments: None**

**Skills: Droid construction and repair, melee combat, hand-to-hand combat, stealth, advanced slicing, first aid training, speaks over 80 languages (exact number unknown)**

Carth's eyes widened in shock. Who was this woman, to have so many skills and yet have nothing known about her? He quickly checked her scores from the academy. As she was only an advisor, she required only the most basic of training. Still, with the courses that she was in, most people would have taken three months to complete it all. Her grades were amazing, and all of it in six weeks! The only blot on the record was repeated disciplinary measures that had been taken. It was quite an extensive list: insubordination, curfew violations, and disobeying orders, among others. Quite impressive that her superiors hadn't killed her out of frustration. Still, there was a lot missing. He had to talk to Bastila about this.

He stood up quickly and ran out of the mess hall, his unappetizing lunch forgotten. On his way out, he bumped into two women and muttered a hurried excuse.

- - - - -

"Well," Loranna said as the two of them sat down. "It looks like you've now seen the best that the _Spire_ has to offer."

"Have I?" Catra asked, a confused look on her face. She picked up her fork and poked at the food on her plate.

"What do you mean, 'have I'? That man that we passed on our way into the mess! Commander Onasi is the best-looking man on the whole ship!"

"I didn't notice," Catra said, continuing to poke at her food. "This doesn't look very good, does it?"

Loranna gaped at her friend as if she had just turned into some sort of strange creature. "You didn't notice Commander Onasi? Are you sure you're not a lesbian?"

Catra stopped looking at her food for a moment, and gazed at the ceiling in contemplation. "Well, to be honest I've never really felt attracted to a man, so anything's possible." She went back to her food. "I highly doubt that I'm a lesbian, though. What is this food, anyway?"

Loranna sat there for a moment, staring in shock at Catra. That she could have such a cavalier attitude towards men was simply inconceivable to Loranna. "You're impossible," she muttered.

"So I've been told. You still haven't answered my question about the food, though."

- - - - -

"Bastila!" Carth shouted down the hallway. She pretended not to notice him, so he ran up to her and grabbed her arm, forcing her to look at him. "Would you care to explain this to me?" He held out the datapad.

"What about it?" Bastila asked, pulling her arm out of his grasp.

"Why is this advisor so important?"

"I'm afraid that it's Jedi business."

"A linguistic advisor? That's just a nice way of saying that she's a translator, someone who can usually be replaced by a computer or any of the Jedi on your team, so I know that there's more to it than that."

"I am sorry. I can't really tell you anything."

"I'm supposed to be helping you. I can't do that if you don't tell me anything."

"She's a linguistic advisor. That's all that you really need to know. If you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to attend." She started walking away, as quickly as she could without drawing attention.

"This isn't over, Bastila," Carth shouted at her retreating back.

"I'm sure it isn't," she replied wearily.

- - - - -

Catra took a deep breath and looked at the sign next to the door. Conference room D12. It was finally time for Catra to start her real work with the fleet. The work that was important enough to the Republic to offer her a full pardon. It wasn't that much, but Catra couldn't help but feel excited. She checked her face for emotion and knocked on the door.

"Come," a voice said from inside. It was fairly muffled, but Catra was fairly certain that it was male. She supposed that they were in a meeting, and that Bastila was in there as well. The door opened and she stepped inside.

"Ensign Catra Nasan," she said loudly and clearly. "Reporting for… for…" She looked around and saw only one man seated at the conference table. He was dressed in Jedi robes and was looking over some information on a datapad. "Oh. I guess that I'm in the wrong room. Sorry." She turned to leave.

"Wait," the man said, standing up. "Ensign Nasan, the linguistic advisor?"

"Yes," Catra said, turning back towards him curiously.

"I was told to give you your assignment. I'm afraid that Bastila isn't available right now. She sends her regards."

"O-kay then," Catra said, swinging back towards him mid-step and approaching him. "What is it that you want me to do?"

"Well, as you are only an advisor your workload isn't going to be consistently heavy or light. You are going to need to be ready to be called whenever necessary. When you are, you are to report to this room unless instructed otherwise. You will be given your assignment, and report here to this room to return it when completed. Is that understood?"

"Yeah," Catra sighed. "It's understood. Can I have my assignment now?"

The Jedi cocked his head at her. "Patience is a virtue, Ensign."

"Patience is overrated. Can I have my assignment now?"

He looked at her nervously. "Very well." He produced a datapad from his robes and handed it to her. "Here you are. You are to translate this into Basic and bring it back here."

Catra took the datapad and glanced over the file on it. "Is this it?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

"I… don't think that you're getting everything here. I'm Catra Nasan. The one that used to be a smuggler? That's getting a pardon for this?"

"I am aware of your background, Ensign."

"Then why are you giving me an assignment that's in Twi'lek?" Twi'lek was understood by just about everyone in the Republic. Catra had learned how to speak Twi'lek when she was four years old. It was difficult to find someone who couldn't read it, whether or not they could speak it.

"That is your assignment."

"I gathered that," Catra muttered, narrowing her eyes at the Jedi. He seemed a little frightened. "It's ridiculous. I gave up a lot for this job. I expected to be doing some good."

The Jedi looked nervously at her and gulped. "I don't expect your workload to be this light for long. You will probably be getting some more complicated assignments later on." He cleared his throat and seemed a little less nervous. "If you find yourself getting cabin fever, may I suggest volunteering your services to one of the other necessary services on the ship? The medbay, perhaps?"

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered. She turned on her heel and walked from the room.

"You're supposed to salute!" the Jedi shouted at her retreating form.

She complied with a slightly different, one-fingered salute.


	3. Ch 2: Fights

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Author's note: Hello readers. Um… you know that whole 'regular updates' thing? Uh… just kidding? Okay, so there's a kinda sorta reason this time, which I won't go into. Suffice to say, it should be fixed now. Unfortunately, our household is about to go up one member. My sister is coming home from a mission for our church on Tuesday, so we may be pretty busy. With any luck, things will have settled down by Saturday, so I should be able to post on time. I'd like to thank all of you guys for reading. Whenever I see a new review, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And about Catra's little… speech… to the Jedi: I made up none of those things that she says. They are all from Star Wars, too, not other universes. Enjoy the chapter. Comments and critiques are welcome!

Chapter 2

Catra sat up and smiled. The translation was complete. Now for her to turn it back in to that Jedi. Maybe he would give her another assignment. She left her quarters and hurried to the conference room. When she opened the door, the same Jedi sat at the table. He looked up at her.

"That was fast."

"This assignment was easy," she said with a wave of her hand, passing over the datapad.

"Very good." He pocketed it.

"What's next?" she asked, looking at him expectantly.

"That is all that you are required to do for now."

"Are you fracking me?"

The Jedi turned back towards her, looking decidedly scandalized. "What did you say?"

"I asked if you were fracking me."

"I heard what you said!"

"Then why did you ask?"

He opened and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find words to say. When nothing came, he closed his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts, and then spoke. "I am quite serious. As I said before, you may volunteer elsewhere if you wish."

Catra grit her teeth. This was why she hated Jedi. They had the gall to take her in and bring up her hopes, only to disappoint her. "I came here to help with the war," she said, trying to keep her temper in check. The Jedi seemed to shrink a little as she stepped towards him. "I want to help with the war. I won't just sit back and translate useless reports from Rim worlds."

The Jedi took a few steps backwards and gulped. "I'm sorry, but that's what you are required to do."

Before, Catra had been mildly irritated. Now she was upset.

- - - - -

Carth stopped in the hallway. He could hear someone yelling. Loudly. They also seemed to have an extensive array of curse words at their disposal, ranging from Huttese to Basic and ones that he didn't even want to think about. When he saw that the cursing was coming from one of the Jedi meeting rooms, he was curious. He entered the room to see a short woman yelling at one of the Jedi, her finger pressing into his chest. The Jedi looked frightened and had backed up into the wall.

"YOU PATHETIC LITTLE DUBESOR! SHAVIT, A SKLOOBING MURGLAK COULD DO THIS JOB! I DON'T NEED THIS! IF MY SHIP HADN'T BEEN FREG'D, I COULD BE OFF DOING REAL WORK, NOT WORKING FOR A KRIFFING KRAZZSCH KUNG LIKE YOU! K'TAH! YOU JEDI ARE ALL DI'KUTE! DYEESH, I QUIT MY JOB FOR THIS! ALL FOR A BUNCH OF DURNED KARKING PRUGNUFICATING SCHUTTAS! ROT IN DAR'YAIM, YOU CHUFF-SUCKING-"

"What is going on here?" Carth shouted, causing the woman to turn and look at him. He glanced at her rank insignia on her uniform and did a double take. She was an ensign. Yelling at a Jedi. And frightening him.

"Hello, Commander," the Jedi said, his voice shaking. He feebly waved one hand at Carth.

"THIS IS NONE OF YOUR FRACKING BUSINESS!" the woman shouted at Carth. He nearly took a step back in surprise. For someone so small she could seem quite intimidating. He, however, was a Commander in the Republic fleet.

"It most certainly is!" he yelled back, trying to channel all of his old drill instructors.

"Get out of here!" the woman shouted.

"Control yourself, Ensign!" Carth bellowed. She seemed a little shocked at the use of her rank and took a step back. Her face went blank of emotion for a few seconds, and then she seemed nervous.

"Oops," she whispered. She bit her bottom lip and backed away from the Jedi.

"'Oops' is right!" Carth shouted. "Now tell me what's going on here!"

The Jedi stepped forward. He seemed much calmer now that the woman had retreated. "Thank you for your help, Commander, but it really isn't necessary. This is Jedi business."

"Anything that happens on my ship is my business," Carth said, glaring at the Jedi.

"Might I remind you that this ship isn't under your command? It's under Jedi command."

"I don't care." Carth leaned out into the hallway and grabbed a passing security officer. "Take this woman to the brig **now**."

The security officer took one look at Carth's uniform, and took the woman by the arm. "Please come with me, ma'am," he said politely. She nodded mutely and walked out with him.

Once she was out of the room and out of earshot, Carth turned back to the Jedi. "Now tell me what was going on here," he ordered in his best 'commanding' voice.

The Jedi straightened himself up and looked back at Carth, looking much less intimidated than when he was being yelled at by an Ensign. "As I said before, it was Jedi business. I shall relay the pertinent details to Bastila. Thank you for your assistance." Before Carth could respond, the Jedi left the room.

Carth glowered at the empty doorway, as if it were the door's fault for letting the Jedi leave. He didn't care that the Jedi were in charge officially. When he was cut out of something as big as this, he got mad. He had to speak to Bastila.

- - - - -

Catra sighed as she reached the door. She had finally gotten out of the brig after three hours. It was hardly the worst prison that she'd ever seen (it was probably the best, actually), but it was a bad sign. Being arrested on your first day could mean nothing but trouble. At least Loranna wouldn't be too much trouble about it. Sure she would sigh and give a couple 'what will I do with you's, but that wasn't so bad. Then she would start teasing incessantly. It wasn't anything she couldn't handle. Catra opened the door to their quarters.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Loranna shouted. Catra looked over to see that Loranna had half of her things packed.

"What are you doing?" Catra asked.

"**I'm** getting packed. Apparently they thought that having a friend with you was making you feel like you could do anything."

"What? Why would they punish you?"

"I don't know! What did you do?"

"Not much," Catra muttered. She looked down at the floor guiltily. She had never considered that Loranna would be punished for her actions.

"What?" Loranna said firmly. It was less of a question, more of a command.

"I… sort of… verballyharassedoneoftheJedi, but he totally deserved it!"

Loranna sighed and collapsed onto her bed. "Why do you keep doing these things? Even in training you were always going crazy. Like a kid that's just gotten out of his parents' house and realized that he's free to do whatever he wants. You need to think of consequences."

"And I do! Usually…"

"Yeah, when you're fighting in training you think a lot about consequences. You know what someone will do before they do, and can plan ahead for that. You just can't seem to apply it to regular life."

"I know," Catra sighed. She sat down on her bed and placed her head in her hands. The day's events were giving her a huge headache.

"One wonders what kind of smuggler you were."

Catra's head shot up and she looked at Loranna. "What?"

"Well, I know that smugglers live a pretty free life, but this is just—"

"No, that's not what I meant. How did you know I was a smuggler?"

"What do you mean?" Loranna asked, genuinely confused.

"I never told you that. And they said that you had to have clearance to view my criminal record. How did you find out?"

"Oh. Well, I did a little digging. I knew that there was something up about your past, so I talked to some friends of mine who had clearance to see your record. I must say, it's quite—"

"You had no right," Catra said coldly. She stood up to face Loranna.

"What's wrong?"

"You had no right to dig into my past like that."

"Why not? Were you trying to hide it from me?"

"Yes! Did you consider for one second that I didn't want people to know about it?"

"But we're friends…"

"And that gave you the right to pry into my secrets?"

"But I thought—"

"Finish packing." Catra turned away from Loranna. "You've got to get out of here, right?"

- - - - -

Catra collapsed onto her bed. Loranna had just left. Today had not been the best of days. She'd learned that her job was one huge piece of crap, she'd verbally assaulted a Jedi, she'd gotten her only friend punished, and then she'd gone and lost that friend. But really, could anyone blame her for that last one? Catra had made it perfectly clear that she didn't want to talk about her past with anyone, and Loranna had gone prying.

She sat up. It didn't matter. She'd gone for a while without any friends. She could make it on her own. Even as she told herself that, it didn't help to ease that slight ache in her heart. In her own strange way, Loranna had actually cared about Catra's well being. The last person to do that had been years ago.

The sound of the door opening drew her out of her reverie. She sat up and saw a young man standing there. Everything about him screamed 'soldier'. From his crew-cut blonde hair, to his straight-backed posture, and his uniform that was so firmly pressed she wondered how he moved in it. This would be interesting.

"Are you Ensign Nasan?" he asked.

"Yeah. Who's asking?" Catra asked. She really didn't need to. It was obvious that he was her new bunkmate. Perhaps they thought that assigning a man to be her bunkmate would make her less likely to act out. Idiots.

"Ensign Trask Ulgo. I'm your new roommate." He approached her and held out a hand.

She ignored it. "Good for you," she said, collapsing back onto her bed. "I think you can figure out which bed is yours."

"Oh," he said, withdrawing his hand. "Right." He crossed the room and placed a duffel bag onto Loranna's old bed.

"So, Trass—"

"Trask."

"Whatever. What do you do around here?"

"I'm in engineering," he said proudly. Judging by his look, you'd think that engineering was going to single-handedly defeat Malak, cure cancer, and help people to lose pounds of fat in seconds.

"That must be a laugh a minute."

"Umm…" he said, unsure of how to respond. He obviously wasn't used to Catra's dry sense of humor.

"Don't worry about it. I was just about to leave anyway." She hopped out of bed and checked to be sure that she was wearing her various weapons. "See ya around."

Once she was out of the room, she pondered her next actions. She was hungry, but they'd stopped serving dinner an hour ago. The ship's "entertainment deck" should be open. Loranna had told her that was just a euphemism for a cantina. That should be fun. It would at least allow her to work off this frustration that she had.

With that destination in mind, she headed off to the entertainment deck. She had lost her pazaak deck in the accident, and all of the ones that she had gotten afterwards had been confiscated by the instructors at the academy, but she was certain that she would be able to at least borrow one from someone.

- - - - -

Carth sat down at the bar, glad to finally be able to relax.

"Anything to drink, Commander?" the bartender asked when he saw Carth.

"Just some gizer," Carth answered.

"Coming right up."

A tall blonde woman plopped down next to him. "Can I have a fizzbrew?" she asked. She looked like she needed the alcohol much more than Carth did.

"Sure thing, Lieutenant."

"Thanks," she muttered when the drink arrived, downing the fizzy concoction in one gulp. "Can I get another?"

The bartender chuckled and began to pour another one.

"Rough day?" Carth asked. He couldn't help but be amused by the look on the woman's face.

"The worst…"

"I'm sorry to hear it."

"Yeah," she said, turning to see who she was talking to. When she recognized the man, she gave a small squeak of surprise.

"Is something wrong?"

She shook her head firmly, her lips pressed tight to avoid accidentally saying something and making a fool of herself.

"So what made today such a bad day?"

"Oh, you don't want to hear about my problems," she said, turning towards her new drink. "Keep 'em coming," she instructed the bartender.

"Well if it's as bad as it seems, then it may make my day look better in comparison."

She sighed. "It's my bunkmate. We were friends in training. Today she did something stupid, and was punished for it."

"Is that all?"

"No," Loranna sighed. She took a drink. "She's always been weird. Last week, I found out that she was once a smuggler. I didn't find this out through her. Then today, I told her what I found out. She chewed me out. I really didn't think that it was a problem, though. Apparently she thought differently."

"She's weird?" Carth asked, now genuinely curious in this woman's dilemma. It actually didn't sound that bad to him, though. "How is she weird?"

"Well, it's hard to explain. When we were roommates in training, she didn't talk to me at all unless I started a conversation. When I said that I'd like to become friends, she just sort of laughed at me. And it's not like she had any other friends. She spent all of her time in the archives, or working. And whenever time she wasn't doing that, she was getting in trouble. Luckily people realized pretty quickly that I wasn't part of it. She was insubordinate, she would hold pazaak games in our room while I was out, she smuggled booze into the room, and she would stay out late for no apparent reason.

"Then there were the dreams. She would have nightmares all the time. She said that she didn't remember them in the morning, but who knows if that's true. I think that they started getting worse, too. And sometimes we would be talking and she would just suddenly go pale, and then she'd leave without a single word. It was always creepy whenever that would happen. Then there were the guys."

"She had a lot of men?" Carth asked, amused that this could be considered weird.

"No!" Loranna said emphatically. She gestured with her drink, sloshing some of it out of the glass. "I tried to help her, really I did. But she just wouldn't take anyone who I would direct her way. I mean, it's not like she's ugly or anything. And she's only in her early thirties, too! But every man that I pointed her at was either completely rejected or ignored until he gave up! And whenever I would talk to her about good-looking men, she would say that she 'doesn't notice'. What does that mean?"

By now she had started on her fifth drink, and was gesticulating wildly. She suddenly looked at Carth, a wild look in her eyes. "Hey, are you single? She might go for you. I've only ever tried to get her men with a one or two year difference from her, or are at most a lieutenant. Maybe a commander would work better?"

"Uh, no thank you," Carth said. He gave her a slight smile and stood up. "I'd better be going." He stood up and stepped away from the bar and towards a nearby table which was currently the host of what appeared to be a rather heated pazaak game. He was prepared to settle down and watch. Until he spotted who was playing.

"Oh shavit!" Catra shouted loudly when she saw the commander that had apprehended her earlier approaching their table. She quickly glanced at the cards in her hand and those on the table. She looked between him and the cards for a few moments, trying to decide whether greed or survival would win out. "What are you doing here?" she shouted. Greed it is, then.

"What are **you** doing here?"

"Cleaning me out," the other man playing pazaak said forlornly. "You've got to have a skifter up your sleeve."

"Where?" Catra shouted now at him, indicating the skintight bodysuit that she was wearing. "Where could I put it?"

He sighed and drew a card. A look of triumph crossed his features. "Ha! Nineteen. I stand."

She didn't react to him, but drew another card. "Twenty. I win the game. Better luck next time."

"I'm out," the man said, collecting his cards. "I can't do this anymore. Keep the deck."

"Thanks!" the woman said, smiling brightly. She looked back at Carth. "So what **are** you doing here? Did you come to arrest me again?"

"When did they let you out?" Carth asked. "And why?"

"How am I supposed to know? Maybe they figured that I'd suffered enough, maybe they were afraid that I'd go psycho in the brig, who knows!" She collected her cards again and began to shuffle them. "Who's next?" she called out to the small crowd that surrounded their table. She was greeted only by head shakes and mutters. "Fine! Sore losers." She stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Carth once again stunned. Just earlier today she had been frightening a fully trained Jedi with only words, and now she was just relaxing and playing pazaak. A very strange woman.

- - - - -

Catra opened the door and stomped into the room, fully expecting to be waking her new roommate. Instead, she found him still awake, reading a book.

"Ah," he said. "I was wondering when you were going to be getting back. Where have you been?"

"Why do you care?" she asked, kicking off her boots. She carefully began to remove her weapons one by one. After she'd removed them all, she patted herself down to make sure she hadn't forgotten any.

"I was just wondering. I heard that you might get into trouble, and figured that I'd better watch over you; make sure that you're alright."

"Well, thanks for the effort, but I don't need a babysitter. Do you need this light? Thanks." She turned out the light and lay down in her bed, not bothering to change out of her bodysuit. She closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.


	4. Ch 3: Assault of the Endar Spire

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Hello again. Not a whole week late this time! Yay! I would have actually gotten this out sooner, but my brother is nearing finals, which means that he's usually too busy to beta. So, I'm sending out a call. Anyone who has played the game and would be willing to beta read, let me know! I'm pretty good with grammar and spelling, so I'm looking for things like sentence variation and plot inconsistencies (though, admittedly, I actually want some of those). So if you're willing, let me know. Please enjoy!

Chapter 3

Catra sat up quickly, alarms blaring in her ears. She had the same foggy feeling that she always got after a nightmare. Normally, she was able to wake up slowly and adjust. Today, she didn't have that luxury.

"Are you alright?" Trask said quickly. He was already standing next to his bed, his blasters attached to his hips.

"Yeah," she said, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it. "What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear the announcement?"

"Apparently not," she growled. Since she saw Trask putting on weapons, she stood up and began doing the same.

"The Sith are attacking. Everyone has been called to defend the ship and Bastila."

"Where is she?"

"The bridge, last I heard. Are you ready?"

She finished fastening her weapon belt. "Yeah. Let's go."

The two of them headed for the door. As Trask tried to open it, a soft beep was all that came from the control panel. "Looks like there's a lockdown in place. I can't get past it."

"Move over," Catra hissed, shoving Trask aside roughly. Her fingers worked swiftly over the panel before it opened. "This is bad," she said quietly, starting down the hallway. "The Sith boarding party will know how to get past the lockdown. Not all of the crew will. The lockdown is only going to slow down our people."

"We can't worry about that now," Trask said. "We have to get to Bastila."

"You're right," she said. She had to wipe it from her mind. She continued on down the hallway. At their next door, they encountered a small part of the boarding party.

Catra immediately unsheathed her vibroblades and ran for the nearest enemy. He seemed to be unused to fighting someone using two blades, and she was able to quickly impale him. She headed for the second one to find a smoking hole where his chest had been. Without stopping to congratulate Trask she continued on to the bridge.

They encountered several damaged doors, and were forced to take the long way to the bridge, encountering several more groups of Sith as they went. She was able to distract them and avoid all of their attacks while Trask picked them off. Suddenly the lights went out.

"Oh frack," Catra muttered, searching in her vest pockets for her flashlight. Their comlinks crackled to life.

"_This is Commander Onasi. The Sith have taken out all power, including life support. We have half an hour until we run out of air._"

"Just great," Catra yelled, having found her flashlight and attached it to her belt. "Not only do we have to worry about the Sith trying to kill us, but now we're running out of oxygen!"

"Then we'd better hurry," Trask said, also attaching a flashlight to his belt. The two of them set off again.

Catra stopped as they reached a door near the bridge.

"What is it?" Trask asked.

"Listen," Catra whispered, placing her ear against the door.

Trask did the same and heard the hum and clash of lightsabers. "That's either one of ours, or they brought dark Jedi along."

"Both. It sounds different if it's a vibroblade against a lightsaber." With that new knowledge in hand, she opened the door and saw just what she'd expected. There were bodies strewn across the hallway, each and every one killed by a lightsaber. In the center of the hallway was a woman in tan Jedi robes, fighting furiously against a dark Jedi.

Catra started towards them, but Trask placed an arm in front of her.

"This fight is out of our league," he said.

"But I can help!" Catra shouted. Trask shook his head. Catra stepped back and Trask lowered his arm. The dark Jedi had obviously overheard their conversation and smirked. Catra's blood boiled.

She pulled the blaster from her side and shot the dark Jedi in his unarmored head, quite obviously catching him by surprise. Trask froze in shock. He stared between her blaster and the dead man. The Jedi looked just as shocked as he was.

Catra smiled and put away her blaster. "I told you I could help."

The Jedi had overcome her surprise and turned towards her helpers. "Thank you," she said. Her eyes flickered over Catra, but she said nothing. "Bastila is on the bridge. We have better chances working together than we do alone."

As the two women started off, Catra turned towards Trask and stuck her tongue out.

"Mature," Trask muttered.

"I always am!"

- - - - -

The three fighters reached the door to the bridge and heard blaster fire from within. Without wasting any time, they opened the door and Catra and the Jedi charged in. Trask stood at the door, taking shots at the Sith from there.

Most of the Republic soldiers were already dead, but a few of them were still fighting. When they arrived, there were nearly ten Sith. Within moments after their arrival, the Sith were down to five.

"How's it going, everyone?" Catra called out as she dodged a slash from her enemy's vibroblade. A blaster shot went over her head as she killed her enemy. "Come on," she shouted to the shooter. "Is that the best you can do?" She quickly shoved one of her blades through the armor gap at his shoulder.

She could still hear her Jedi companion's lightsaber as it slashed through the air, so she turned to check on Trask.

"Oh no," she whispered. That last blaster bolt had not been directed at her.

She heard an explosion, followed by the Jedi turning off her lightsaber. Catra turned back and saw that the explosion had taken out both the last of the other Republic soldiers and the Sith. "Hey," Catra shouted to the Jedi. "Trask's been hit!"

The two of them immediately ran to him. The blaster bolt had hit his chest, where he would have been armored in regular combat. As it was, it was just another part of his uniform. Catra pulled out a medpack and injected it into him, knowing that the chances of the kolto saving him from an injury like this were small.

"Move over," the Jedi said, kneeling next to Trask. She tore his uniform away from the wound and winced. There was a gaping hole, through which they could see several of his ribs. The flesh in the entire area was burned. "Well, it didn't hit the lungs or the heart. Most of the damage seems to have been taken by the ribs. There's a chance that you may make it," she said to Trask. She carefully placed her hands over the wound and closed her eyes. Catra's eyes widened as Trask's chest began to glow a soft blue.

"It's a shame that Elys isn't here," the Jedi muttered. "She's the best healer on the ship." After almost a full minute without any noticeable changes, the Jedi opened her eyes and the glow dissipated. "I can't do anything. We need to stop the bleeding, though."

She stood up and turned on her lightsaber. Trask's eyes widened in fear. Catra nodded, realizing what the woman was going to do. "Don't worry," she said, taking Trask's hand firmly. "Close your eyes and squeeze my hand." She looked around and found a nearby dead soldier. She tore off a chunk of the fabric of his uniform and rolled it up. "Put this in your mouth and bite down." Once he'd done that, Catra nodded at the Jedi.

"This will hurt," the Jedi said uncertainly. She'd heard of lightsabers being used to cauterize wounds, but usually only on limbs that were going to be lost anyway. Using it on such a broad wound would quite possibly kill him. But still, they had to try. If they didn't stop the bleeding soon then he would die soon anyway. The small amount of kolto that he'd been given wasn't enough for a wound like this.

She looked at Catra's face and saw that she realized his chances. She merely looked at him blankly. It was as if she'd already accepted him as dead. The Jedi took a deep breath and touched her lightsaber to the bleeding flesh. He screamed and tried to squirm away.

"If you move it may kill you," Catra said, squeezing his hand. "Keep going," she said to the Jedi. The Jedi nodded and did it again. He tried to turn away again, and Catra tried to hold him as she realized which way he was moving, but it was too late. He had pushed the lightsaber directly into his heart.

The Jedi's eyes widened in shock and she dropped her lightsaber. Without thinking, she reached up to check his pulse, as Catra was taking her hand out of his. She stood up as the Jedi leaned over the body. When the Jedi's fingers touched his neck, she closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. She had just killed a Republic soldier. It was in an attempt to save him, but still…

"We have to get going," Catra said. The Jedi didn't move. "Come on." She grabbed the Jedi's shoulder and tried to drag her away, but the Jedi pulled back and looked at Catra incredulously.

"He was your friend!"

"He was my roommate."

"You just saw a man die!"

"I've seen lots of men die," Catra said coldly. No emotion was visible on her face or in her voice. "If Bastila gets off the ship and we don't, then the Sith will blow this place into space dust. She wasn't here on the bridge, so she's probably on her way to the escape pods. We have to go **now**." She seemed to consider her situation for a bit, then added. "Not to mention that we've got about five minutes until we start getting more carbon dioxide than oxygen."

The Jedi nodded and stood up. As they began to run from the bridge, she began muttering to herself. "There is no emotion, there is peace, there is no emotion, there is peace…"

"That sounds familiar," Catra said. "What is it?"

"The Jedi code."

"It sounds stupid." Catra stopped to open a door. She ducked as a red lightsaber was swung at her head. As she rolled back, she got a chance to see the dark Jedi that had been standing there. He quirked a smile at her.

The Jedi looked between Catra and this new enemy quickly. This ensign couldn't handle a fully trained dark Jedi on her own, and this was the only way to the escape pods that would get them there in time. She turned on her lightsaber and rushed the dark Jedi.

He raised his own and the two clashed. "Get going!" the Jedi shouted to Catra. "I'll hold him off!"

"What?" Catra started towards the two battling Force users, but found herself blocked by the Jedi's lightsaber.

"Go!"

"This makes no sense!"

"Just go!" She raised her hand and Catra's feet rose off the ground as she flew through the door into the next room. The door slammed behind her and Catra heard sparks from the door as the Jedi smashed the locking mechanism.

She could have gotten through that door again if she'd had time, but right now she didn't. She hesitated only a moment before continuing on towards the escape pods. There wasn't much time left on the life support.

She pulled her comlink out of her vest pocket when a voice began coming out of it again. "_Ensign, can you read me?_"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "Who is this?"

_"Commander Onasi. I'm tracking you through the life support, I think that you're the last surviving crewmember."_

"Are you sure?" If that was true, then the Jedi had already been killed. Had Loranna gotten to the escape pods in time?

_"Well, I can't be entirely sure, but none of the other life signs have comlinks operating on our frequencies. Bastila's escape pod has launched. You're nearly here, but I can't wait too long for you. CO2 levels are getting pretty high in your area. All of this blaster fire isn't helping. I'd switch to melee weapons if I were you."_

"Already done. Any other advice?"

_"Well, not much. Your way is mostly clear. I'll let you know when you're near any groups of Sith. Do you have a stealth field generator?"_

She looked down at her belt and saw that she was wearing one. "As a matter of fact, I do."

_"Good. Commander Onasi out."_

Well, that would make this easier. If she didn't have to worry about finding any surprises, then she could go a lot faster. She began running towards the escape pods. She was already starting to feel short of breath, and her mouth and nose were beginning to burn. As she neared the end of a corridor, the Commander came onto the comlink again.

_"There's a small group of Sith at the end of the next corridor. Don't bother trying to take them out, just try to get past them."_

"Thanks," Catra whispered. She pressed the button on her belt and was surrounded by the energy field that came with stealth. To the Sith, she would look like nothing more than a heat wave, and that was if they noticed her at all. She reached the end of the corridor and turned to see three Sith troopers headed her way, their blaster rifles loose in their hands. She was quite tempted to take them out, and she was fairly certain that she could kill two of them at once if she tried. She shook her head and reminded herself of the time limit.

"Why do you think they turned out the lights?" one of the troopers said to his friends.

"I dunno. These Republics can be pretty stupid. Maybe they thought that it would make it harder for us to fight."

"And why does the air seem so stale?"

"Who knows. It's not like they'd turn off their life support or anything, so maybe it's always like that here."

Catra froze. The Sith didn't know about the life support? If they didn't tell their soldiers, then it meant that they were going to be sacrificing the entire boarding party. She forced the thoughts out of her mind and headed on past them. She was feeling lightheaded. Once she was out of earshot, the commander contacted her again.

_"Good job, Ensign. You're almost here. Just one more room, and it should be empty. Your path to the escape pods is clear. Hurry up!"_

Catra disengaged the stealth field and ran. She could feel herself weakening as she got less and less oxygen in each breath. She felt as if she was going to vomit any minute now, and her nose and mouth were now burning much stronger than before. She took one deep breath and held it in. She concentrated very little on where she was headed, just on forcing the oxygen through her veins. For a moment, she almost felt as if her lightheadedness was reduced.

When she opened a door and saw a man standing there, she could do nothing but hold up her vibroblades feebly, a ridiculous attempt at a defensive posture. The air in this room seemed much less stale.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's me, Commander Onasi. Come on, let's go."

She nodded and entered the escape pod. Since the pod had its own source of oxygen, she finally allowed herself to breathe. She could feel her lightheadedness dissipating as she brought in lungfuls of oxygen. As she strapped herself in, she heard the Commander close the door to the pod and she looked up at him. When she caught sight of his face, she gave a small shriek.

"You!" she shouted, her safety harness forgotten.

"Yeah, me," he said, strapping himself into another seat. He pulled the release on the pod, and the pod ejected with a jerk. "And as much as I would love to rehash your time in the brig, let's just work together for now."

"Fine," Catra said, reaching back to her harness as the planet in the viewport grew closer. Their pod began shaking uncontrollably as it entered the atmosphere. It was then that she realized that something was seriously wrong. Her harness wouldn't fasten.

"Hurry up!" Carth shouted at her. If she didn't fasten her harness, then she would be in trouble when they landed.

"I can't! Look!" She held out the two ends that were supposed to hook together. Some sort of manufacturing error had caused one of them to be slightly deformed.

"Get in another seat!" Carth shouted over the roar that indicated that they were entering the planet's atmosphere.

"No time," she muttered, trying to tie herself into the seat. The ground was getting closer and closer with every passing second. She tried to hold herself in and closed her eyes as they impacted with the ground.


	5. Ch 4: Crash landing

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Hi everyone. I would like to say that this chapter was edited and ready for beta-reading on Saturday, but it was only beta-read today. My brother said something about wanting to actually complete his finals. Strange person. So yeah, it's not my fault this time! So, now for comments on the actual chapter. First off, regarding Catra's first dream. This is actually the second version of the dream. The original version had more people there, as well as giving away a lot more than this version did. I prefer this version. Much less is given away. So, yeah. Please enjoy and review!

Chapter 4

Carth groaned as he looked around him at the escape pod. Landings in these were never exactly pleasant, but at least the ground usually absorbed some of the impact. This time they had landed on a much harder surface than dirt. He looked at his companion and froze.

She had, not unexpectedly, fallen out of her seat during the crash. Unfortunately, it seemed that she had been thrown around quite a bit, resulting in a head injury which was bleeding profusely, as well as several other much more minor cuts and bruises. He struggled out of his own protective harness and checked her pulse and breathing. Her pulse was faint, but there, and she was still breathing. Carth wished that he'd paid more attention in first aid classes during training.

He picked her up bridal-style, trying to keep her head elevated, and kicked the door open. It was night around here, and so everyone was at home in bed. At least, almost everyone.

"Republic soldiers?" a man asked, his face hidden in the shadows. He stood only a few feet from the pod.

Carth looked down, thinking this a stupid question, and then saw that neither of them was wearing their uniform. "Yeah," he said. "She's hurt, can you help?"

"I'm a doctor," the man said. "Come with me."

He led Carth down an alley and into a fairly large, but quite run-down building. Many of the windows were broken, while others were so grimy that he doubted that you could see through them. There seemed to be carbon scoring around the entrance. "Is this safe?" Carth asked.

"Safer than the streets," the doctor replied, opening the door and heading inside.

"Why is that?" Carth said, following the man.

"Sith."

"What?"

"What, you didn't think that the Sith were waiting for you in orbit around a Republic world, did you?" The man sighed. "They came in about two days ago. Took over everything. Most of us aren't happy about it, but aren't willing to do anything to fight back. Once the battle started and escape pods began coming down, the Sith issued an order for all civilians to help round up any Republic soldiers. If anyone is caught helping or harboring any survivors then they get the death sentence. I hope that you'll understand if I don't give you my name. Or ask for yours."

"Thank you," Carth said, trying to take it all in. If they were on a Sith occupied world then Bastila could very well have already been captured. "Do you know if they've gotten any of the pods yet?"

"No idea. I generally try to stay out of the Sith's business. It's better for my health. Here you are." He stopped and opened the door that was before them. It opened into a small apartment, several floors up. It didn't look like anyone had lived there for some time. The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust, and he could see several small insects go running from the movement at the door. The windows were intact, but nearly opaque with grime and grease. A small section of the floor near the door was stained with something. Carth couldn't be sure in this lighting, but it looked suspiciously like blood.

"Put her on the bed," the doctor said quickly. "I'll be back with some of my gear in a moment."

"Right," Carth said. There were three doors from the main room. One was open and obviously led into the kitchen, so he checked one of the others and found that it had two small beds inside. While he doubted the cleanliness of the sheets, it was better than the ground. He carefully placed her on the bed and checked her pulse again. It was still there, but it was much fainter.

Since he didn't seem to know anything about dealing with head injuries, and didn't even know how to stop the bleeding (pressure didn't seem like a very good idea for a head injury), he took out a medpack and injected the kolto into her bloodstream. He hoped that it would keep her around until the doctor could get back.

A few minutes later, the doctor returned and headed straight for the bedroom.

"How is she?" he asked.

"Alive," Carth said. "I gave her some kolto, but I don't know how much good it'll do." He stepped back and allowed the doctor to reach her.

"Right. What caused these injuries?"

"The crash. She also might have some problems from the carbon dioxide. Life support cut out, and the CO2 levels were getting pretty high."

The doctor nodded and stuck some sort of instrument into her mouth. He gave a small sigh at the results that he got from it, but didn't voice whatever concerns he had. After that, he injected her with some sort of medicine and began work on her head injury. After some examination, he pulled out a needle and some sutures and began to patch it up.

"It doesn't look too bad. I think that she just passed out because of the blood loss and shock, no brain damage. With this sort of injury, the main concern is blood loss and infection. I'll leave you with some antibiotics, which should prevent infection. As for the rest, I'll set up an IV drip just to provide her with some plasma to replace the blood that she's lost. She should wake up soon, but it's hard to tell. These antibiotics should last for a little over a week. Give her one syringe a day."

Carth nodded and took the bag handed to him by the doctor, who started setting up the IV. Once that was done, the doctor applied some kolto bandages to her head and the other injuries.

"Here's some extra kolto. I'd give her some every day, along with the antibiotics. And here's some more bandages, change them every few days. More often if it looks like they're getting dirty."

"Thank you," Carth said. "You didn't have to do this."

"It's my job. Just don't tell anyone that you saw me."

"I'll die first."

"If they catch you then you may have to."

- - - - -

Carth stayed with her for another half hour, until he felt her pulse growing stronger, then checked the holovid. He was pleased to find that it was connected, and immediately turned to the news. It seemed to be mostly repeating the message about anyone harboring Republic survivors. There was one news item that caught his attention.

"And we have breaking news," the anchorwoman said, looking at the message she'd been handed. "Our new Sith rulers say that they have reason to believe that one or more of the survivors of the space battle may have been carrying a very dangerous new plague. They are placing a quarantine on our planet. Travel between sectors is now prohibited, as is travel to and from the lower and under cities. All ships currently docked on Taris are being kept here until the quarantine is lifted. When asked when that may be, Sith representatives say that they cannot lift the quarantine until certain Republic soldiers are caught. They have released their pictures to this station, and we will be showing them now."

An image of Bastila, followed by others (who Carth recognized as other Jedi) were shown. So that was how they were going to try to find Bastila. They came up with some ridiculous story about a plague, and put her as a carrier. Bastila's name was well known in the galaxy after her defeat of Revan, but few knew what she actually looked like, so no one would recognize her as anything more than a plague carrier when they found her. He only hoped that people would realize that this was all Sith propaganda.

A yell came from the bedroom and Carth drew his blaster automatically. When he realized that it was the woman, he put it away. She couldn't possibly be awake yet, so what was going on? He ran into the room and saw her curled up in a ball, her hands over her face, screaming.

"Whoa," Carth said, running to her side. "Calm down!" She didn't seem to notice him, so he carefully reached out to her. The minute that he touched her, she stopped screaming and looked at him. Her eyes were unfocused, glassy, and wide. She began muttering incoherently.

"What's wrong?" Carth asked. He leaned closer to listen to her.

"Can't dark dead tell mind smuggle Sith soldier Jedi not sleep memory home false kill-"

"Okay," Carth said soothingly, leaning back and lowering her into the bed again. She kept this up for a few more minutes, random strings of words that made absolutely no sense, before falling back to sleep. Once he was certain that she was sleeping, he left the room again.

- - - - -

_Catra looked around at her surroundings. She could see herself, in her new armor, wearing the vibroblades that still felt strange on her hips, but there was nothing around her. No floor, no ceiling, and no walls, just pure white space. A small dot appeared in front of her, and she ran towards it, hoping that it would be some sign of where she was._

_It seemed like she was running for an eternity before she was finally able to make out what it was. A lone figure stood there, their back to Catra. She approached them cautiously. They were wearing a cloak which obscured their figure somewhat, but she was fairly certain it was a man. He was several inches taller than her, with broad shoulders._

_Something felt strange here, as well. This man, whoever he was, wasn't right. Catra had no way of explaining it, other than that. If she had known more about the situation, she would have simply ran the other way. As it was, she had to find out what was going on._

_"Hello?" she said, her voice echoing strangely. "Who are you?"_

_The man turned to face her, his cloak still drawn tightly about him, not allowing her to see any more of his clothing. He gave a small derisive snort. "I have no business with you," he said, his voice cold and malicious. The voice seemed to drive fear directly into Catra's heart._

_She knew that she couldn't allow her fear to show, so she placed her hands on her hips. "What's that supposed to mean? Where are we?"_

_The man turned away again. "It means what I said. You are beneath me. And even if I could tell you where we were, you couldn't comprehend it. Your small mind couldn't wrap around it."_

_Catra no longer had to fake her attitude. "Small mind? I'll have you know that-"_

_"Oh, I know," the man said. "Whatever you were going to say, I know already."_

_"You do?" His voice was certainly familiar, but she didn't know where she'd heard it. "Who are you?"_

_"A friend. Or an enemy. Take your pick."_

_"Do you always talk in riddles?"_

_"If you were in my position, you would talk in riddles, too. It's rather frustrating, actually." He took several steps toward her, until he was only one foot away. "You see, I would like nothing more than to tell you every harm that you have done me. I would outline every small indiscretion, every injustice, every pain. Then I would take you and…" He reached out towards her shoulder, and she took a step back. He removed his hand. "But that's irrelevant. I can't do any of that. As a matter of fact, it's about time you were leaving."_

_"Leaving?" Catra took another step back, just in case he tried something. "What do you mean? Where will I go?"_

_"How am I supposed to know? It's you who will be going there, not me." His voice seemed to change slightly. It was now lower and… sad? "I'm not in control of your destiny. You are. Don't waste it, Catra."_

_Neither Catra nor the man were moving, but the man slowly became farther and farther away. "Wait! How do you know my name?" Before he could respond, he was gone, and the white nothingness was replaced by a crushing black._

- - - - -

Carth looked nervously at the muttering woman. She seemed to do this fairly often. It wasn't enough that he couldn't get any sleep, but it was enough that he wasn't willing to leave the apartment building. He'd been lucky to find that a merchant had set up a kiosk several floors down, but he hadn't had a chance to scout around. All that he knew was from the holovid news (which seemed to be heavily censored by the Sith) or the pre-Sith visitor's guide that he'd bought from the merchant.

When they'd been forced to evacuate the _Spire_, Carth had been lucky to pick a jacket that had several hundred credits in the pockets. But after two days with the high prices for food that this planet had, his supply of credits was beginning to run low. He had enough for another two days, but after that he would have to either sell his blasters or try to find work somewhere, which would mean leaving this woman all alone.

He had no idea when she would be waking up, or what damage she could do to herself while he was gone. It seemed like she would calm down whenever he spoke to her now, and he had suspicions that if it weren't for that influence then she would have torn off her bandages in some of her fits.

He was worried that her head injury had done more damage than the doctor had thought, and that this was the cause for her strange behavior, but there was nothing that he could do about it. He had no idea who that doctor had been, and any other doctors might give away their position to the Sith. If given several hours to look, he could probably find the doctor, but again that would mean leaving the woman alone.

He recognized her as the one who he'd placed in the brig the day before the attack. Even after that, he still hadn't managed to find out who she was. Of course, his mind was more focused on the Jedi usurping his authority, but he'd tracked down the Jedi who she had her 'confrontation' with. He had been very tight-lipped about it all. All that he had said was that she was some sort of linguistic advisor to the Jedi.

"Wait a second," Carth muttered. "Linguistic advisor?" He pulled the datapad that Bastila had given him out of his jacket pocket, thankful that it had been there during the attack.

**Name: Catra Nasan**

**Rank: Ensign**

**Age: 31**

**Hair color: Black**

**Eye color: Gray**

**Height: 5'3"**

**Weight: 123 lb.**

Well, that looked like her. While her eyes were closed right now, she had opened them a few times, and he seemed to remember them being gray. And though her hair was matted with blood right now, it was definitely black. This was her! He had found the last minute request of the Jedi, and had even shared an escape pod with her. The odds of that seemed… strange.

He was drawn out of his thoughts by a low moan from Catra. She seemed to be having another one of her nightmares.

- - - - -

_The Jedi woman ducked a kick from her attacker, her brown hair flying out behind her. It had once been in two pigtails, but the fighting had caused wisps to come out. She gave a quick slash with her yellow lightsaber and cut down her attacker. Her movements were quick and precise, with little flourish. She was obviously quite skilled for someone of her age._

_Her blue eyes turned to her companion as he fell back, clutching at his throat and trying desperately to breathe. She turned to the person that was causing all of this death, fury in her eyes. She raised her lightsaber._

- - - - -

Catra opened her eyes, and for a moment Carth thought that this was just part of her nightmare. Her eyes focused on him, and he realized that she was actually looking at him.

"Good," he said, smiling a little. "You're awake."


	6. Ch 5: Surprise inspection

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Hello again, my beloved readers! Sorry for the delay, etc. etc. I think that I've pretty much given up on attempting a regular update schedule. I'll just try to give y'all a new chapter regularly. I was meaning to get this out earlier today, but my ferret got sick. That's bad enough, but he also got sick all over his cage, so I literally spent all day cleaning it up. He was out of his cage all day, but he spent most of his time sleeping. Practically the only time that he got up was either to use the litterbox, eat, or drink. If he isn't better by tomorrow, we'll probably start making him some duck soop (Since most of you probably don't have ferrets, duck soop is a soup which ferret owners will often give their ferrets. It rarely contains actual duck.) I just need to convince my mother to go out and buy some liver that we can give him. Oh well, all for tomorrow. Please enjoy the chapter, and reviews are welcome!

Chapter 5

"Huh?" Catra muttered, looking around her. The room was dark, but the exertion hurt her eyes. "Where am I?" She looked at the man who had spoken and saw that it was the commander who had been in the escape pod with her.

"Taris. We're in an abandoned apartment. You probably don't remember what happened, so I'll fill you in. We crashed in the street, and managed to get away before the Sith arrived."

"The Sith?" Catra groaned. It made sense, of course. It would explain why the Sith were in orbit.

"Yeah. The Sith are in control of this planet. They've imposed a quarantine until they can find Bastila and the other Jedi. They're using the excuse that they're carriers of some disease, but I don't think that anyone believes that. Anyway, I came across a doctor who helped us find this apartment. You were pretty badly hurt, so he patched you up. You've been slipping in and out of consciousness for the past two days."

"Thanks for helping me out, I guess," Catra said, trying to sit up. It took her a few moments and Carth had to help her, but she managed it.

"No need to thank me. I've never left a soldier behind, and I wasn't about to start now."

She nodded, still trying to process everything that had happened. Her mind was still quite foggy. "Have you been able to do any scouting around yet?"

Carth shook his head. "Not really. I've been worried about leaving you alone. You, uh, seemed to be having some pretty bad nightmares."

"Really?" Catra said. "I don't remember anything," she lied. So he knew about the nightmares, but that didn't mean that he had to know everything about them. Some things were better kept secret. "My name is Catra Nasan. What's yours?"

"Carth Onasi." Catra looked up at that name. Commander Onasi was the one who Loranna pointed out as the most attractive man on the ship. Looking him over now, he did have a sort of rough charm about him. His chin was covered in a five o' clock shadow, while his brown hair was combed back. A few strands hung down in front of his face. His brown eyes seemed kind.

"Are there any other survivors?" Catra asked, thinking of Loranna. Their last conversation hadn't gone very well, and all that she could do was pray that she was alive.

"The Sith have caught a few soldiers, but not many. Most of the escape pods crashed in the Undercity, according to the holovid."

"Undercity?" Catra cursed herself for being unable to remember what he'd already told her about the planet. It seemed like everything that she tried to think about was slipping away.

"Oh, of course," Carth apologized. "The planet that we're on is called Taris. It's like Coruscant in that it's entirely covered by the city. The city is divided into three levels. The uppermost level is called the Upper City, that's where we are. It's inhabited mostly by nobles and rich merchants. Aliens have to have a special permit to live here, but many are here illegally.

"The next level down is called the Lower City. It's where most of the aliens live, and it's mostly slums. Apparently it's almost completely ruled by the swoop gangs or the Exchange, and all of the travelers' guides advise against going down there. The inhabitants can be pretty hostile towards people from the Upper City."

That was bad news. The Exchange was the biggest crime syndicate in the galaxy. If they had a foothold on this planet, then it could only mean trouble. She doubted that any of them would know about her, and she didn't think that she'd ever gotten any bounties big enough for Exchange agents here to worry about, but she wasn't sure.

"And the Undercity?" she asked.

"Ah. That's actually on the surface of the planet. Apparently it's been turned into some sort of penal colony. It's inhabited by mutants called rakghouls. All of the information that I've found on them is sketchy at best, but it seems that they're born from a disease that's quite common in the Undercity. From what I've heard they're aggressive and very dangerous.

"This quarantine has stopped all travel between levels, so it'll be tough if we need to get down there."

"And you said that most of the pods crashed in the Undercity. Great." Catra planted her face in her hands, covering up her eyes. She felt like she had a hangover.

"Yeah. I figure that our best chance of survival is to find Bastila, and then work with her at getting off of this planet."

Catra paused before deciding what to say next. It was worth saying, but if she did then it could put him against her. Oh well, what was one more enemy? "Are you sure that Bastila's still alive? She could be dead for all that we know."

"No, she's still alive. I just know it. Besides, she's a Jedi, and she's strong for her age. If anyone could survive in the Undercity, it's her."

Catra nodded, still not quite certain. At least they could be fairly certain that the Sith hadn't caught her or found her body. If they had, then it would be all over the holo. "Have you worked out a background story for us?" Catra asked.

"No," Carth said, looking a little embarrassed. "I hadn't actually thought about that."

"Well, we'll need one if we're going to be here for any period of time."

They spent the next half hour working out their story, which allowed for why they were staying in such a rundown apartment, as well as why they were living together. After they had the details down, Catra felt strong enough to go take a shower.

In the refresher, she was pleased to find that Carth had bought her some new clothes. They were similar to the ones that she was wearing, though she doubted that they had the armor-like properties. Once she was done, she reentered the bedroom, feeling much better than before.

"How are you?" Carth asked.

"Well, I won't be running any marathons for a while, but I'm better than I was before." She sat down on one of the beds. "So what now?"

"Well, I was hoping that we could take an inventory of our supplies. I'm running a little low on credits."

"Right," she said, pulling her vest out from under her bed. "It looks like I've got about two hundred credits, six frag grenades, my vibroblades, my backup blaster, my boot knife, my wrist knives, a datapad, some extra ammo for my blaster, and another blaster, a rebreather, about a week's worth of rations, some stims, three computer spikes, and a pazaak deck. What have you got?"

He looked at the small mound of weapons warily. The small vest had held a lot more than he'd expected. Trying to put it out of his mind, he pulled out his own bag. "Well, I've got fifty credits, two blasters, a vibrodagger, some extra clips for my blasters, and a datapad."

"That's it?" Catra asked, glancing skeptically at his pockets.

"Yes. Unlike you, I'm not a walking armory."

"You've gotta learn to be prepared, flyboy."

"Flyboy?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. You're a pilot, right?"

"Perhaps you could call me Carth."

"Sure, if you want to go the traditional route."

"What's wrong with tradition?"

"Sometimes you need to shake things up." She froze as someone began pounding on the door and slowly reached for her vibroblades. When an Ithorian spoke, she seemed to get a little more concerned.

"Did you catch that?" Carth asked. He didn't speak Ithorian, but the speaker was quite obviously worried.

"Yeah," she muttered. "Hurry up and hide the weapons, but keep them within reach."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"The Sith are doing a surprise inspection."

- - - - -

Captain Corrun Dass was quite bored. This planet had no interesting sights to see, and they weren't likely to be doing any combat until the quarantine was eased. So they spent their free time taking out their uniforms and doing random inspections. It provided a little entertainment in the form of the scared faces of the residents of this dingy apartment building.

Illegal aliens, every one of them. Well, not all of them. They had come across two humans who were most likely hiding from the Exchange. As such, they were no interest to the Sith. He stopped at a door and his fellows stopped behind him.

"Hey, Corrun," one of the men said. "Do our folks have any records on anyone who lives here?"

"Nope," Corrun responded. "We just scare the skloob out of them on occasion. We don't need to bother with records."

"Just checking," the man replied.

Corrun smiled and pulled out the passcard that he had been given by the owner of the building. Unless people had changed their locks (which most of them had), then it was supposed to open any of the doors.

The door opened to reveal a man and a woman sitting together on a couch, the holovid on in front of them. The woman was lounging casually, one hand hanging off the side of the couch and nearly touching the floor, while the man was sitting up straight. They looked up when the door opened.

"Well hello," the woman said, raising her hands at the sight of the armed Sith troopers. The man beside her did the same. "Fancy seeing you here. In our apartment."

"Watch it," the man hissed at his companion. "Do you want to get arrested?"

"I'd agree with your friend there," Corrun said. "If you know what's good for you."

"Sorry, sorry," she said, not sounding at all sincere.

"I'd watch it if I were you," one of Corrun's men said. "We've already killed one stupid alien during this raid!"

"Which brings up an interesting question," Corrun said. "What are a couple of humans doing hiding out with aliens?" He suspected that he knew the reason. They were both scratched up, and the man was sporting a bruise on his chin. They had probably gotten in some local trouble. Then again, this was also one of the closest apartment buildings to that escape pod crash site. They still hadn't caught those soldiers. He tightened the grip on his rifle.

"We're not hiding," the woman said firmly. "This was just the cheapest apartment that we could find."

"Aren't you bothered by the aliens?" The man was acting suspiciously. Corrun was getting the feeling that something was up.

"Beggars can't be choosers," the woman said.

"A lot of places are full up," the man chimed in. "With this quarantine, that is."

Well, that was certainly true. A lot of people had taken apartments while they were stuck here. Still, something seemed strange, and Corrun's instincts were rarely wrong.

"What do you know about the escape pod that crashed nearby?" Corrun asked. The man began to look a little nervous.

"Not much," he said.

"Just what we saw on the holovid," the woman said. "Can we put our hands down now?"

Corrun nodded and the two people lowered their hands. That was strange. Both of them lowered their hands over the side of the couch, reaching down as far as they could to the ground. Most people would have rested their hands on their laps or the couch. He glanced down at the bottom of the couch, his helmet hiding his eyes from the two people. What was that sticking out from beneath the couch? Actually, there were a couple things down there. Right next to the woman's hand was something that looked like it was made of durasteel, while there was something black next to the man. Was that a vibroblade and a blaster?

"Stand up," he said, raising his rifle at them.

"Should we put our hands up again?" the woman asked, tugging the man's sleeve when he tried to stand up, pulling him back down. She stayed firmly put.

"Do as he says," one of Corrun's men said nervously. He had no idea what was going on, but something was up. All three of the Sith now had their rifles raised.

"Stand up now."

"Oh dear," the woman said. She turned to the man beside her. "You know what I think, Flyboy?"

"What?" he asked, his hand twitching near whatever was hidden under the couch.

"I think that we're about to get arrested." With those last words, she reached under the couch to pull out two full-length vibroblades. The man beside her reacted instantly, pulling two blasters from beneath the couch.

The two people stood up, the man staying stationary and the woman launching herself at Corrun.

Despite Catra's weakness that remained from her injuries, she was able to move pretty quickly. The leader managed to get off a few shots, but in his surprise, all of them missed her. She reached him and quickly attacked. When one of her blades slashed at his head, he raised his blaster to take the blow, leaving his unarmored side open. She took the opportunity to attack, leaving him at least fatally wounded and at most dead. She turned to see that Carth had taken out one of the other troopers and injured the other. She quickly ran up to the injured man and slashed his thigh, thus giving Carth the opportunity to get a clear shot when the man dropped his rifle and clutched at the wound.

The enemies taken care of, Catra stopped for a moment and closed her eyes. The exertion had made her headache worse. After breathing for a few seconds, she turned back towards Carth.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"No. You?" she replied.

He shook his head. "We should probably do something about the bodies."

"You're right. Be sure to check them for anything that might be useful, then we'll think about what to do with them." He nodded and moved to the nearest body, immediately taking the blaster and checking the man's belt for supplies. Catra was pleasantly surprised. While most would have realized the sheer practicality of her policy on looting corpses, most would also have at least some qualms about it. This man obviously understood their situation enough to see that it was necessary.

She dropped down and checked one of the bodies.

"I've found something interesting," Carth said. Catra turned and saw that he was holding a datapad. "This looks like this man's duty roster. He's not supposed to be working right now. As a matter of fact, he has today completely off."

"What?" Catra took the datapad and took one quick look at it. "Um… what day is it?" She realized now that her little nap had made her completely lose track of time. Carth leaned over and pointed to the correct date and, sure enough, he was marked as being on leave for the day. "Well that's interesting."

"Maybe these other guys have duty rosters like this."

"I'll check."

With very little searching, they managed to find the matching datapads on the other men. Just like with the first, they were all marked down as being in their free time.

"So why were these guys doing this?" Carth asked. "I can almost understand them doing it if they were ordered, but this? It's just mindless brutality!"

"It's power," Catra said, looking at the bodies with disdain. "They feel powerful only when they're crushing someone else. And once you've tasted power it can be hard to step back."

"I think I'll take your word for it," Carth said. "So now we need to figure out what to do with these bodies. I think—"

He was cut off as the door opened again. The bodies of the Sith troopers still sat in the middle of the floor, in plain view for the Duros that stood before them. Carth quickly drew his blasters again, while Catra found herself pressing one of her vibroblades against this visitor's throat.

_"Come inside and close the door,"_ she hissed quietly in the Duros' language. _"Quickly and quietly."_

He obeyed without question, eyeing the blasters and swords nervously. Once the door was closed, he raised his hands. _"I mean you no harm."_

_"I'll believe that when I see it," _Catra responded.

"What did he say?" Carth asked. He cursed his lack of language skills.

"That he means us no harm," Catra said, not taking her eyes off of the alien. _"What are you doing here?"_

_"I heard blaster shots. I thought that another resident of this building was being killed by those monsters. I watched the door for a few minutes before wondering what was going on. I suspected that the Sith had been killed, killing their own killers in the process. I came to see what had happened."_

"All that I caught was 'kill'. What did he say?" Carth asked.

"He came to investigate the sound of the blasters," Catra said. She suspected that he had only good intentions, but she had learned long ago not to trust easily. _"Why did you come to investigate? Most would have tried to pretend that it had never happened. Why did you risk it?"_

_"Those monsters killed my roommate. He commented on the frequency of these raids, so they killed him for mouthing off. I was hoping to find that they had been taken care of. And to help their killers if possible."_

"Well," Catra said to Carth, lowering her vibroblades, but not sheathing them. "You know how those Sith mentioned that they had already killed one alien?"

"Yes," Carth replied, keeping his blasters trained on the alien.

"It was this guy's friend."

"Ah. What does he want with us?"

"He says he wants to help us. I'll ask him how."

The Duros raised his hand before she could speak. _"My Basic accent is hardly understandable, though I do understand the language. If you would like, I could take care of these bodies and put them somewhere else, make it look like they were killed elsewhere. Although their patrol commander could be a problem."_

"I doubt it," Catra said. "We found their duty rosters. They were doing this in their free time, completely unauthorized. At least, as far as we can tell."

_"I see. That makes this much simpler. If you would like, I could take care of the bodies now. Just give me an hour or so to move them and clean up the blood. It would look suspicious to have this much blood in the doorway of one of these apartments."_

"We would appreciate that." She turned to Carth and explained what the Duros had told her.

"Can we trust him to not go to the Sith?" Carth asked.

"I can't be sure, but I think so. He's probably an illegal alien, so attention from the Sith isn't exactly what he wants." The Duros was nodding fervently from behind them.

"I suppose that it would be best if someone else were to take care of the bodies. I guess that he can do it. We'd better finish checking them first, though."

Catra nodded and went back down to one of the bodies. Between the three bodies, they found three blaster rifles (which neither Carth nor Catra were very good with, so they would most likely pawn them off), three vibroblades (which were also surplus as they were of less quality than Catra's vibroblades, and Carth admitted to being completely useless with melee weapons), several hundred credits, and several medpacks.

While they finished with the bodies, the Duros left to go find some supplies with which he could clean up the blood. He came back carrying two large bags, one which was obviously full of the supplies, while the other one looked like it was empty.

_"Here,"_ he said, handing the empty one to Catra. _"You can probably get away with carrying your own weapons on the streets. There are plenty of off-worlders and enforcers for the Exchange out on the streets. Just don't cause any trouble and you should be fine. But if you're seen carrying extra weapons, then you may very well be in trouble. There is a woman down the street who should buy your weapons. Her store is small, but you should have no trouble finding it. I wish you luck."_

"Thanks," Catra said, taking the bag and placing their extra weapons inside. "I take it that you won't tell anyone about this."

_"I assure you, it will take much to get me to give away your secrets."_

"Thanks again," Catra said. She turned to Carth. "He's got to take some time to deal with the bodies. He told me about a shop where we can pawn off these weapons. We should probably get going."

Carth nodded. "It'll be good to get some scouting done. Do you think that you can handle this?"

"I'll be fine," she said, waving him off and opening the door. "I'm feeling a lot better than when I woke up. I don't know if I can handle another fight, but walking around shouldn't be a problem."

"I'm just making sure. I don't want you passing out on me. It was bad enough having to lug you to this apartment. You're heavier than you look."

Catra snorted. "You sure know how to make a girl feel loved."

"It's probably all of those grenades."

"Grenades are a girl's best friend."


	7. Ch 6: Cantina

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Merry Christmas everyone! Here is my Christmas present to all of you (yes, Amanda, this means that I'm too cheap to get you anything). A new chapter! I was going to try to get two chapters out today, but I'm not sure if that'll work out. My brother and his wife came down for Christmas, and that caused the computer to be in use all day long. This chapter was edited last night and ready for beta-reading, but that couldn't happen until only minutes before. Let's see… notes about this chapter. Well, for starters it's actually one long scene. I didn't notice until after it had been beta-read that there were no scene breaks.

Also, I know of at least one reader who doesn't know what pazaak is. Suffice to say, it's like blackjack except not. Instead of going to 21, you go to 20. There are different 'sets' that you have to win (a set is basically a round where you try to get to twenty). There can be an unlimited number of sets, but the first person to win three sets wins the game. Another interesting thing about it is that at the start of each game you get four cards randomly drawn from your sidedeck and put into your hand. Different cards can either add or subtract from your total for that set (some cards can do either, depending on how you play them, but many do only one or the other). You do not get new cards between sets, so you're limited. If the person who I'm thinking of still doesn't understand this explanation (which is understandable, since I don't think I explained it very well) then she can come over to my house and play it.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6

"So, should we head for that store?" Catra asked, stepping out into the light. She looked around at them and cringed slightly. They were obviously in the slums, but these weren't like any slums that she had seen before. There were Sith troopers everywhere. She could see two of them accosting a man nearby. Luckily for the two Republic fugitives, the Duros had been right. They weren't the only ones walking around armed. The Sith paid them little attention as they walked past, so Catra was able to relax a little.

"Well, we should definitely get off the streets," Carth said. Catra was pleased to see that he was just as unnerved by the Sith as she was. "I think it's that shop over there." He nodded towards a store. The letters above the door proclaimed it to be 'Kebla Yurt's Equipment Emporium'.

"Right. Let's get going."

The shop was small, but seemed to have a good stock. As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a young human woman. She smiled and approached them with the unmistakable air of an experienced salesman. "Welcome to the Equipment Emporium," she said. "What can I do for you today?"

"Do you buy weapons?" Carth asked, lifting their bag.

"You've come to the right place," she said, her face brightening. "Just one question. These weapons… they aren't the type of thing that the Sith will be confiscating from me, are they? They seem to have developed a liking for my heavy weapons and high-grade explosives."

"I don't think there should be a problem," Catra said. Heavy weapons and high-grade explosives? She liked this woman already.

"Good. Just take them over here and I'll appraise them. She led them over to a small table and took the bag from them. When she pulled out the first blaster rifle, she whistled softly. "Well. This is… interesting. Hold on one second, I'll be right back."

She disappeared into the back room and returned with small laser engraver. "This rifle, I don't want to know where you got it. Just for future reference, though, this insignia," she pointed at a small engraving and Catra froze, recognizing the symbol. "It's not good if the Sith catch sight of that." She turned on the engraver and leveled out the symbol.

"Why is that?" Carth asked.

"It's the stamp that the Sith put on all of their weapons. Like I said, please don't tell me where you got these."

She went through each of the weapons, inspecting them and removing the symbol. When she was finished, she quickly totaled them up and paid Carth and Catra for them.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," she said as the two left.

While she had been working on their transactions, she had given them instructions to the nearest cantina, so they headed straight there.

"I didn't know that about the stamps," Carth said as soon as they left the shop.

"Neither did I," Catra said. However, now that she thought about it, it sounded familiar.

"We'll have to remember it for next time." Carth stiffened slightly as they reached the cantina and saw a Sith trooper standing next to the door.

"Don't worry about it," Catra whispered. "Don't look at him."

They passed by him and entered the cantina. It was a fairly upscale cantina, considering the neighborhood. It sounded like they had a live band in one of the rooms, and there were several well-dressed people sitting throughout the cantina.

"Let's split up," Catra suggested. "Try and get some information on the pods."

Carth nodded. "We'll meet up at the bar in an hour." Catra nodded and headed off in one direction, while Carth headed in the other.

The cantina was divided into several sections, so she headed into one of the rooms. A pazaak den. Perfect. She looked around and saw two men in the middle of a game, then moved to stand nearby. One of the men seemed to be only a novice, while the other one looked like the local card shark. The game progressed as could be expected, until the novice left in disgust. Catra smiled at the card shark as he collected his winnings.

"You're good," she said.

"Thank you," he replied, smiling at her. "Do you play the game?"

"A little," Catra lied. "I'm not very good, though."

"Would you like me to teach you?"

"Oh, would you?"

"Certainly." He indicated the seat in front of him, and she took it. "I am Niklos."

"Catra," she said. As she was only an ensign, she and Carth had agreed that she could use her real first name. Had the Sith come across a crew manifest, they wouldn't be very likely to pick out her name. "Are we going to wager?"

"I suppose that we ought to," he said. "Just to give you more motivation. Let's keep it small, though. Forty credits?"

"Okay." They went through the first set, him explaining to her the 'finer points of the game' while she tried not to laugh at his terrible advice. After she threw the first set, she decided to try and get some information.

"Are you a local, or are you stuck here from the quarantine?" she asked, drawing a card.

"I am from Taris," he replied, placing down a plus three card and bringing his total to seventeen. "I stand. Most people can't beat seventeen without going over twenty and losing the set."

Catra nodded and drew a card, bringing her total to twenty. "Oh!" she said in surprise. She had been going to throw that set, too. "I guess that I win."

"Ah," he said dryly. "Well, good job. You still need to win two more sets to win the game, though, so do not get cocky."

"Right," she said, removing her cards for the next set. "What do you think about this quarantine?"

He drew a card before answering. "Well, it provides many new challengers in pazaak. Your turn."

She drew her card. This guy had a real one-track mind. It was quite difficult to see if he knew anything like this. "I'm an offworlder," she said. "This quarantine is a little annoying for us." She leaned forward and whispered, "Do you really believe that line about some kind of plague?"

He snorted and drew his next card. "No, but does anyone? We all know that they only wish to capture the fugitives."

She drew her next card, bringing her total up to nineteen. "I stand," she said. He had been going easy on her, but he would probably try to win this set. Now for her to see where his loyalties lie. "I just can't wait for them to catch these people and let us all go."

He drew a card. "I as well. The Republic means well, but the Sith are stronger. They will win this war." Well, that wasn't what she'd been hoping. If he knew anything, then the Sith knew it as well. He placed a plus four card on his fifteen, bringing them both to a tie. "I stand. Time for the next set."

She nodded and gathered her cards. Well, now that she knew that he was useless for information, she might as well try and get those credits. Time to play seriously. They sat in silence, drawing cards until she reached fifteen. She drew her next card and reached twenty, not using any of her hand cards. "Well, I guess it's your turn," she said, looking at his fifteen total.

He nodded and drew his card. A ten.

"Oh dear," she said with an obviously fake smile. "A bust. I suppose that set goes to me. One more and I win." She gathered her cards for her next set.

This time she reached sixteen all on her own, then placed a plus four card down. "Twenty. Your turn."

He growled slightly and drew a card, bringing his total up to twenty-three. He placed a minus five card down. He drew his next card, which brought his total to twenty-one. He put down a minus two card and drew his next card. It was a ten, bringing his total to…

"Twenty nine. Another bust. I win." Catra held her hand out and he placed forty credits into her palm. "Want to go again?"

"No," he growled. "You lied to me. You are quite skilled at pazaak."

"Perhaps," she said airily. "I'd better be going. Goodbye!" Before he could say anything more, she left the room and disappeared into the crowd.

So the past ten minutes had been almost a complete waste of time. The only things that she'd learned was that Niklos the pazaak player was supporting the Sith and that he underestimated his opponents. She had gotten forty credits, but that wasn't really much. She headed into the next room.

It was only a lounge. Several tables were set up, but there was no real activity going on. It would be hard to approach someone here without it seeming out of place.

"Ugh," a woman shouted. Catra turned to see a man standing next to her. "Get away from me," she said, disgusted. She quickly left the room.

Then again, it might be fairly easy to approach someone. She quickly stepped up next to the rejected man. "What was that about?" Catra asked.

"I don't know," the man said, then turned to look at Catra. He dropped his drink in surprise. "Oh, um… sorry. I'm Yun." Catra looked him over appraisingly. He had dark hair and pale skin, but wasn't overall unattractive. He had a pointed face, and had a slightly desperate feel to him, but it wasn't all that bad.

"Catra," she said. "Are you from Taris?"

"No," he said nervously. "I'm… well, I'm actually a member of the Sith occupation force."

"Ah," Catra said. It was actually more like a squeak. She was torn. It was dangerous to be talking to a Sith, but he could also prove to be a useful source of information. At this point, she supposed that it was worth the risk. She didn't know anything useful for the Sith, and they desperately needed information. "That must be tough. The locals seem rather… hostile towards the Sith."

"Yeah," Yun said, surprised. "You know, most people go running when they hear I'm a Sith."

"Really?" Catra said, a surprised tone to her voice. "I didn't realize it was that bad for you." She cringed inwardly at her acting skills. She was rusty, to say the least. He didn't seem to notice.

"It can be," Yun sighed. He seemed rather thankful for someone to talk to about this. "These people really don't realize how good they've got it. They're complaining about the quarantine. It's really for their own good. And when you think about it, things could be a lot worse. We could ban weapons on the streets, or impose a curfew! But we haven't. They've got things pretty good."

Catra nodded. "They've really got to get an attitude adjustment. I mean, I'm stuck here because of the quarantine, but you don't see me complaining! And the locals aren't even that inconvenienced by things. How many of them really go down to the Lower City, anyways?"

"That's right! It's not like I asked to be placed here, either. I could be on some nice planet, one that appreciates our efforts, instead of being stuck here!" He stopped and turned to look at her. "Wait a minute; did you say that you're an offworlder?"

"Yeah," Catra said. "Why?"

"Well, I would've thought that most offworlders would be too upset at us to be thinking about the good side of things."

"Not me," Catra said, hoping that she hadn't gone too far and been caught. "I realize that all that you Sith are trying to do is help things. The Republic has been too complacent for too long. They need to learn that things are changing. If they don't want to change with them, then they need to step back and let someone else take over." Catra stopped and prayed that was the Sith thought process. She had never actually talked with any before, but that sounded about right.

"Exactly!" Catra let out a silent sigh. "You know, it's hard to find someone around here who agrees with me."

Catra nodded, then turned when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Carth was standing behind her, and he looked livid.

"Oh," she muttered. Had he heard her and thought that she was telling her real feelings? "Hi Dellis," she said. They had figured that Carth was a little too well known, and had given him an all-new name.

"Catra," he growled.

"Dellis, this is my new friend Yun," she said, hoping that Carth wouldn't say anything to give her away. "Yun, this is my brother, Dellis."

"Nice to meet you," Yun said nervously. Carth was several inches taller than Yun, not to mention quite bigger. To Yun, he must have seemed like the epitome of a protective older brother.

Carth grunted in acknowledgement. "Catra, can I talk to you in private?"

"Maybe later," Catra said.

"Now." Without another word, he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Yun.

"Hey, wait a minute! I can walk on my own, you nerf-herder! Gaaah! I'll see you later, Yun!"

Carth dragged her all the way out of the cantina and into an uninhabited alley, Catra protesting all the way. When he finally stopped, she pulled her arm away.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I should ask you the same thing!" she shouted. "That guy was going to be a great source of information!"

"I heard you telling him about your position on the Sith!"

"So?"

"What do you mean, 'so'? All of that stuff about the Republic stepping aside, what was that about?"

"That was about me getting his trust! If I told him that I thought that all Sith should take a walk out an airlock, then it wouldn't have been very good for me, now would it?"

"Who was that guy, anyway?"

"He's a member of the Sith occupation force!" Catra hissed, hoping that no one could hear them.

"Why were you talking to him?"

"Are you an idiot? He knows things that the general public doesn't. Things like when they're going to be searching what places, where they set up guard points, how they're keeping people out of the Undercity, how to bypass their security, things that we need to know!"

"Do you really think that it's worth the risk?"

"Yes."

"And if you get caught?"

"Then he won't know where I'm staying, he won't catch you, and I don't know anything worthwhile. They'll just lock me up or kill me, and you'll be able to find Bastila on your own."

"You don't get it, do you? They won't just lock you up or kill you! They'll know to make use of your abilities."

"I'd never serve the Sith!"

"You won't have a choice. They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. They could wipe away your whole mind and turn you into a mindless slave!"

"That's just rumors. If it were true, then they wouldn't kill any of their prisoners, and we know that they do." She sighed. "Listen, I know what I'm doing here. You need to trust me."

"Not likely."

Well that was pleasant. "Fine. Don't trust me. I'll still do whatever I want." She walked past him out of the alley and back into the cantina.

When she returned, it looked like Yun had already left (most likely fleeing in terror from Carth), so she continued on to the next room to see what was going on there. She entered the room and was surprised to see a Hutt sitting there. The room was fairly empty, with only seven people other than the Hutt, five of which were armed. The sides of the room were lined with small viewscreens, all of which were displaying nothing more than a commercial for Czerka brand cleaning droids..

As she walked towards one of the viewscreens, the commercial ended and they all changed simultaneously. They showed a large arena, lined by seats. Whatever was going on, it hadn't garnered much of an audience. Less than half of the seats were filled.

Two people stepped up to one of the viewscreens, close enough that Catra could hear what they were saying.

"I can't believe you didn't get tickets for the match!" the woman shouted at the man.

"What are we going to miss?" the man sighed. "It's just Duncan and Gerlon fighting. Nothing special."

"Shut up, it's starting!"

Two men began walking out into the arena.

"Welcome everyone," an announcer began. "To this match of the Sector 371 Upper Taris Dueling Ring. We're pleased to announce today's match, between Deadeye Duncan and Gerlon Two-Fingers! It's bound to be an exciting duel!" The man standing near Catra snorted. "Ready… Begin!"

The older of the two men reached for his blaster, only for it to fall to the ground. As he reached down to get it, the younger man shot him in the chest. He collapsed to the ground.

"It's over!" the announcer shouted. "The match is over! Gerlon Two-Fingers wins! Don't worry everyone, he's just unconscious. Our medic droids will have him up and about in a bit. Well, that was exciting, wasn't it? Thank you for viewing!" The viewscreens went to commercials once again..

"I told you," the man said. "I know that Deadeye's bad, but that has to be his worst match ever!"

"I don't know," the woman replied. "I think that his match against Ice when she was starting out was worse."

"That one must have been before I moved to this sector. What happened?"

"He walked out, wet himself, and then tripped over the puddle. Knocked him cold. They counted that as a win for Ice." The man began laughing hysterically.

Catra chuckled and approached the two of them.

"Hey," the woman said, noticing Catra. "Did you come to see the match, too?"

"Actually," Catra said. "I just stumbled across this place. So what is all this?"

"Oh," the man said. "You've come to the right people! We're some of the biggest dueling fans around! Most people have really stopped paying attention to the sport since the quarantine started. No new blood."

"You see," the woman said. "One of Taris' biggest sports is dueling. Two people go in, they fight, then one of them walks out. The other is carried out on a stretcher. Used to be that people would die, but then death matches became illegal. This room is where all of the duelists hang out."

"There's five of them that are regulars these days," the man said. "The two who you just saw fight are the two lowest ranked duelists in this sector. Then there's Ice, she's pretty tough. There's also Marl and Twitch. Twitch is the champion."

"He's also nuts," the woman said. "But that's half the fun!"

"Ah," Catra nodded. She'd seen dueling before, of course. Dueling fans like these had a tendency of scaring her. "I think I'll be going," she said. The two fans nodded and began eagerly recounting the worst fights that Deadeye Duncan had ever been in.

Catra walked over to one of the few seats in the room and sat down. She had been standing for way too long, and was beginning to get a headache. Her wound was definitely not completely healed yet.

She turned as the chair on the other side of her squeaked. She saw Carth sitting down next to her. "Hello," he said.

"Hi," she replied calmly, her voice devoid of emotion.

"You should probably get back to the apartment," Carth said, not looking at her. "You shouldn't do too much today. You may not be completely healed yet."

Catra nodded. This was likely as close to an apology as she was going to get. "You're right. Let's go."


	8. Ch 7: Children

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Umm… hi. Things have been real busy around here lately, meaning that I get maybe an hour on the computer per day. And since my computer time is taken up by more than writing, I have gone days without working on SPC. Weeks. Don't worry! Nothing can stop me from completing this story! I'm going to try to work out some sort of schedule thing with my family, but with my dad who knows how that'll go. Anyways, on to the chapter. Only one thing to note here, really. Several hours pass between the first and second scenes. The only reason that I don't mention it in story is that… well… it's boring. They eat, make small talk, and go to bed. No one wants to read about that. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Catra sat back onto the couch and sighed.

"You seem tired," Carth said, sitting down next to her.

"You have no idea," she muttered, closing her eyes. Her head still hurt, but it was feeling a lot better. "Actually, if you're already a commander, then you probably do. Let me guess, Mandalorian War vet?"

"Right," he said. "You?"

"Not exactly." She had fought during the Mandalorian Wars, sure. It had just never been against the Mandalorians. It was more along the lines of the occasional mercenary job. "I just signed on recently," she clarified. "You know, still an Ensign and all."

"Then where did you learn to fight? I saw you against those Sith, you're good."

"I picked it up," she said evasively. Dang. If he started asking too many questions, then this could be problematic. "You'd be surprised what you can learn just by watching." That part was semi-true. She had never had any formal training. There was only the 'Let's meet in the cargo hold so that I can kick your butt' sort of training.

"I guess that you can learn an awful lot," he said skeptically. So he didn't believe her. At least it didn't look like he was going to press it right now. She had time to think of something to say when he brought it up again. "So did you learn anything useful in the cantina?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I got forty credits in pazaak, learned that Yun the Sith has low self-esteem, and found out that they have a not-so-flourishing duel circle in this sector. If we can run into Yun again then I may be able to find out something. I think that he was starting to trust me."

He nodded and looked quite thankful that she hadn't brought up the reason why she had lost track of Yun. "I had similar luck. I learned that they have some quite potent local ale here, but I doubt that will help us anytime soon. Other than that, not much."

"Well, it's only been one day. At least we got some credits today. The sale of those weapons should keep us going for a while."

Carth nodded. "I think I'll get us some food. You stay here, try to rest."

"Will do," she said, giving a mock salute and laying down on the couch.

- - - - -

_A small girl pulled at the chair two times her size, the legs squeaking loudly on the granite floors._

_"Do you need help there, precious?" a man said, bending over to meet the girl's eyes._

"_No thanks," she said, not even bothering to look up at the man. She screwed up her face in concentration and the chair slid out easily. She turned back to her father and smiled widely. "See? I got it."_

_"I see," he said, taking a seat at the head of the table. "Sweetheart, do you need some help in there?" he called into the kitchen as a loud metallic clang rang through the room._

_"I'm fine," a voice returned. "Just dropped a platter. I'm coming right now!"_

_The large doors opened to a woman carrying in some sort of casserole. The girl took an appreciative sniff, while the man simply smiled at his wife._

_They dished out the food in silence before the girl spoke up._

_"I can't wait to grow up," she said with a sigh, looking at the food on her plate._

_"Why do you say that?" her mother asked. The girl turned to her mother and studied her carefully. Her unruly red hair was pulled back into a tight bun, the only style that allowed her to do anything without it frizzing uncontrollably. She wore simple clothing, but still seemed to look attractive in it. She normally wore an apron, though that had come off for dinner. The girl's eyes were drawn to the earrings that she wore. Each earring bore a single white crystal, surrounded by intricate twists of silver metal._

_"I wanna wear your earrings."_

_"Not for some time, young lady," her father said severely._

_"Why not?" she said. Her voice wasn't in the whine that most children would have used, but was a simple question._

_Her mother chose to answer the question before her father could respond. "Because you only get earrings like this when you get married, sweetie. Your betrothed will give them to you."_

_"Oh," she said with a sigh. "But that'll be forever!"_

_"It'll be sooner than you think."_

_The girl sighed. Grown-ups always said that for something that was going to happen someday, no matter how far away. "I'm gonna get married when I'm real young."_

_"Are you really?" her mother said, trying to hide her patronizing smile behind her fork._

_"Yeah," the girl said, ignoring her mother. "And he's gonna be really handsome. Blonde. With blue eyes. We're going to have lots of kids, and a big farm. And every week we'll come back and visit you!"_

_"Well that's good," her father said, a smile tugging at his lips as well. "I'd hate for us to get lonely."_

_"Yeah," she said with a somber nod. "We don't want you to get lonely. And when I meet the guy, it'll be love at first sight! We'll just see each other and he'll propose right away." She seemed to consider this for a moment, then shook her head. "Nah, that's no good. He'll be too shy, unfamiliar with love. So I'll propose!"_

_"So long as you've got a plan," her mother said, taking a drink to hide her giggles. "You don't want to go into these things unplanned."_

_The girl detected the sarcasm in her mother's voice. "Mama! I'm serious!"_

_"I'm sure you are, dear."_

_"Really! You just watch!"_

_"I will."_

- - - - -

Catra opened her eyes and looked around. She was still in the apartment, lying on her bed. Carth was sitting on the bed next to her, snoring softly. This must have been a minor nightmare if it didn't wake him up. She had no idea why these things affected her the way they did. It wasn't as if the content of the dreams was usually frightening. Sometimes it was, but not usually. She heard a groan from Carth's bed and turned to look.

Sweat was beginning to gather at his forehead, and his face seemed to be contorted in pain. He groaned again and turned over. The sheets were beginning to become twisted around him. As quickly as the nightmare came, it passed again.

Well, it looked like Catra wasn't the only one with problems.

- - - - -

Catra opened her eyes blearily. The sun was just peeking over the buildings, so it was early morning. She looked at the nearby bed and saw that Carth was already up. She clambered up out of bed and headed towards the kitchen. Carth was leaning against the counter, drinking caffa.

"Good morning," he said.

"G'mornin'," Catra muttered, grabbing the extra cup of caffa that was sitting on the counter. "Got any plans for today yet?"

"Nothing specific. We're going to need to get into the Undercity somehow, but we'll need to find out what they're doing to keep people out before we can try it. I understand that there's an elevator nearby that people use. We can head past it; take a look as we go."

"Yay. An exciting day of looking at elevators."

"You're snarky before your morning caffa."

"I'm always snarky. Get used to it. So after that are we off to the cantina again? We weren't there for too long yesterday."

"Sounds good. How are you doing today?"

"Well, I'm not feeling as weak as yesterday. I think I'll be fine. Did you get anything for breakfast yet?"

"I was waiting for you to get up. There's a vendor two floors down, he's who I've been getting all of my food from so far. It's not good, but it's edible."

"I can get it," Catra said, putting down her mug. "Two floors down, right?" Carth nodded and she left the room. As soon as she closed the door behind her, something impacted her stomach, knocking the air out of her. As soon as she regained her composure, she dropped into a fighting stance, cursing herself for leaving her vibroblades in the apartment. She had only her bootknives and wristknives.

She looked at her attacker and saw… an Ithorian child. She relaxed her stance. The Ithorian had been knocked down when they collided, so he was climbing back up.

"Here," Catra sighed, holding her hand out for the child.

_"Sorry,"_ he said, pulling himself up.

_"Ridu,"_ a Twi'lek shouted. _"Slow down! You're going to-"_ she froze as she saw Catra. "Oh, frack."

Catra looked at the young girl. She could be no more than twelve. Her skin was a bright purple, though her lekku had red spots. She left them hanging down her back, showing either little interest in style or too little time. Her clothes seemed to show the same lack; simple, practical, comfortable, but still fairly trendy for a child of her age.

"Hello," Catra said, giving the children a small smile.

"Hi," the Twi'lek said. "Did Ridu bump into you? He's clumsy like that."

"It's okay," Catra said. "You speak Basic?"

"Yeah," she said. "It's hard to get by on Taris if you don't."

"Where are your parents?"

"What kind of a question is that?" The Twi'lek asked, placing her hands on her hips. "We can handle ourselves just fine; we don't need supervision every minute of every day!" Catra liked this girl.

"Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. Just curious." So they were orphans. "What's your name?"

"Sarin," the girl said. "And this is Ridu, of course."

_"Hi,"_ the Ithorian said shyly.

_"Sarin!" _a voice shouted from down the hallway. Rodian, by the sound of it. _"We're back!"_

The Twi'lek spun around as two Rodians came running. They looked to be about the same age as Sarin and Ridu. Their pebbly skin was slightly bluish. "_Where have you two been?"_ the girl asked. The two Rodians seemed to cower slightly. _"You've been gone for a whole day!"_

_"Rixar sorry,"_ one of them said. He seemed to be older than the other.

_"We working,"_ the younger one said. _"Rayf steal three hundred credits!"_ He held up a large purse. The older Rodian slapped the back of his head.

_"Stupid! Someone else here!"_ They all turned towards Catra again.

"Umm," Sarin said. "You don't speak Rodese, do you?"

Catra smirked. The stereotypical street urchins. "Three hundred, eh?" The children all tensed up. Adults were authority figures, all about rules. Naturally, that meant that any adult that heard of their less-than-legal activities would immediately turn them in. Time to shake up their little world. "Impressive. Hey, do you all happen to know where a vendor is around here? I heard that there's one in this building who sells food, but I don't know where he is."

Sarin looked at Catra, confused. Not only was this adult not reprimanding them, she was actually impressed! "Well," she finally said. "Larrim runs a stand two floors down. A Twi'lek. His stand is right next to the elevator."

"Thanks," Catra said. She held out a ten-credit chip. They were short on cash, but friends were much harder to get, and they could use all of those that they could get. "Here's something for the information." Sarin took it without any hesitation.

"Thank you," she said, smiling brightly. "We've got to go. See you around!"

With that, the four children ran off. Catra headed for the elevator.

- - - - -

After a light breakfast, Carth and Catra armed themselves and headed off. They found the nearest elevator to the Lower City and walked past it. It seemed to have some sort of lock on it, with two guards standing on either side of it. They were both fairly well armed and armored, and the elevator was close enough to the base that reinforcements would arrive before they could take out the guards. In short, it would be nearly impossible to get down there.

As they headed to the cantina, Catra chose to reflect on their situation. "Unless we can find Yun again, we're fracked."

"Good positive attitude," Carth said.

"I'm just being realistic. We need to find him, or someone like him, who can tell us how to sneak past the guards. Either that or we need to find another way down."

"So we'll look for Yun. If we found him at the cantina once, he'll probably go back."

They arrived at the cantina and headed inside. "Shall we split up again?" Catra asked. Carth nodded and the two separated. Catra immediately started for the lounge where she'd first seen Yun.

After quickly scanning the room, she found no sign of the Sith. She checked the entire cantina, seeing Carth talking to a man as she passed the bar. She nodded to him, and he noticed that she wasn't with Yun. He seemed a little discouraged, but kept up his conversation.

After she had finally determined that Yun was nowhere to be found, she decided to try and get some information. Or credits. Carth was no doubt concentrating on information, so she could deal with the credits. She watched as one of the dueling fans that she'd met yesterday went bounding into the dueling lounge. She smirked.

- - - - -

Carth nodded at the man as he walked away. That had been informative, but also discouraging. He'd learned some more about which pods ended up where, and had found out that the only other pods that had crashed in this sector had either crashed in the Undercity or had all of their occupants killed or arrested. That meant that they wouldn't be getting any help until they got to the Undercity.

He sighed. There was no point dwelling on it now, and he needed to find more information. He stood up and headed for another room. He'd seen Catra a little earlier, probably looking for the Sith. He hated the idea that they would be getting so close to a Sith as part of their best plan. If they slipped up at all, then they would be caught. Catra certainly seemed capable enough in battle, but he had no idea how good she was at covert espionage. Not that he was an expert himself; far from it. He preferred a straightforward approach to things, where you just had to shoot someone. He stepped into the room where he'd found Catra yesterday and saw a fairly large group of people crowded around the viewscreens. Figuring that it was as good a place to be as any, he went closer.

A large dueling arena was visible, with two people standing at either end. A middle-aged man stood at one end, a blaster strapped to his hip. He looked… shaky, at best.

In contrast, a woman stood confidently at the other end of the arena. A large black cloth covered most of her face and neck, leaving only her eyes and the top of her head visible. Her figure wasn't exactly that of a model, and she was rather short, but she looked dangerous. She had several grenades strapped to her belt, as well as a blaster on her hip. Her hands hovered near two sheathed vibroblades.

"Welcome, dueling fans!" a loud announcer said. "We have a special treat for you today. A new challenger has appeared in the dueling ring, here to challenge duelist Deadeye Duncan!" The crowd in the seats near the arena began to cheer. "I present to you… the Mysterious Stranger!"

The camera zoomed in on the woman's face, causing Carth to jump slightly in surprise. The woman had sharp gray eyes. Just like Catra. Carth tried to remember the clothes that she had worn this morning. A grey bodysuit, black boots, black jacket, and black vest. He looked at the viewscreen again. There was no doubt about it, this was Catra.

"Emerging from the shadows of Taris with no past, no history, and no name, how will this mysterious woman do against a professional duelist? Time to find out!" A loud buzzer rang, and the two combatants drew their weapons. Duncan had only his blaster, while Catra drew her vibroblades. She began charging towards the man. It seemed that either Carth was imagining things or she was moving slower than she had when they'd been up against the Sith.

Duncan fired a shot, but it passed Catra by several feet. He heard a scream from the audience. Duncan grimaced. He opened his mouth to apologize to the person who he'd shot, but was cut short. Catra had reached him.

The cut seemed to be intentionally shallow, and it looked like her vibroblades had the sonic vibrations for which they were named turned off, lessening the damage done. Duncan collapsed to the floor and the medic droids immediately came out.

"The match is over! Duncan is down! In a short, yet impressive battle, the Stranger has shown herself to be an adequate fighter. But really, she's going to have to do a lot more than take down Duncan to gain any real respect. Join us all tomorrow as the Mysterious Stranger goes up against Gerlon Two-Fingers!"

"Not likely," Carth growled. Was she insane? Sure, she had covered her face, but what if the cloth had fallen off? What if someone recognized her clothes like he had? And then there were her injuries. She most certainly wasn't going up against Gerlon tomorrow.

Figuring that she would be coming back in here soon, he took a seat in one of the chairs there. He ignored all of the fans that stood around, talking excitedly about how this new duelist could mean that the duels would be picking up again.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Catra came out of a small door in the back of the room. She talked with the Hutt in the corner for a few minutes, and then headed back out. Carth intercepted her.

"Oh," she said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "Hi Dellis."

"Hello," he said, giving a rather forced smile. "What have you been up to?"

She seemed to become slightly nervous at his tone. "Getting us a hundred credits?"

"Ah, so that's what it was. Did you consider that you are still not completely healed?"

"Oh please," she sighed, beginning to walk into the main area of the bar. She seemed to have given up on being nervous. "I'm feeling fine. Not to mention that I saw Duncan fight yesterday. It was one of the most pathetic things I've ever seen. I had no reason to worry. Didn't even break a sweat. As a matter of fact, I was holding back. So really, you don't need to worry. I don't suppose that you've seen Yun while I was fighting? I checked the cantina first, but he may have come in since then."

Carth growled slightly in frustration. She had completely blown him off! "Okay, if you're right about your injuries, then what about the Sith? What if they'd seen you and identified you?"

"I'm surprised that you identified me. I was covering my entire face! I'm not using my real name, and Ajuur gives me my money in person, he doesn't send it to the apartment. There's no real risk. And even if the Sith start asking questions, I'm his new cash crop. He wouldn't give me up unless the Sith made it very worth his while, something that they aren't likely to be doing with whatever proof they can get. They've got bigger fish to fry."

"You've got a very cavalier attitude," Carth said, his tone implying that this was a very bad thing.

"And your point is?"

"You need to start thinking more seriously about our situation."

"Yeah, yeah, I will," she said in a tone that suggested anything but. "Oh, look who's here!" She nodded towards the entrance, where a man was walking in. Even from across the bar, Carth recognized him. Yun.


	9. Ch 8: Yun

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Hi again. I'm not doing so good at updating regularly, am I? Sorry about that. I also just realized a mistake I'd made in the previous chapter. I gave Carth the fake name of Phalen instead of Dellis. I'm having some difficulties changing that. I'll try to get it straightened out, though. In the meantime, just remember that his fake name isn't Phalen. It's Dellis. This chapter has been ready for a while, I just haven't gotten a chance to post it. There's not much to say about it, really. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 8

Carth looked at the Sith officer suspiciously. As much as he hated to admit it, Catra needed to get on his good side.

"Go on, then," he said. "Just know that we're going to have a talk back at the apartment about your attitude."

"Right! I'll see you later." She immediately headed towards Yun, who seemed to be looking around the cantina for something. He noticed her as she approached and waved slightly. She waved back.

"I take it you remember me?" she said, putting on her best 'exuberance and innocence' face. It had been quite effective with him last time.

"Well," he said, scratching his head in embarrassment. "Not many people around here share my opinions, especially not women." He looked around again. "Is your brother around?"

"Oh, don't worry about him. I had a little talk with him about this. He just gets a little overprotective sometimes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry." She leaned in to whisper in his ear, and he seemed appropriately shocked. "I was really upset when I saw that you'd left when Dellis took me away. I'd been hoping to talk to you some more." She nearly vomited with those last words. Sure, he hadn't done anything too bad so far, but she had a bad feeling about this man. Something just didn't seem right about him.

"Um… about that… I just thought that it would be best to avoid a conflict with your brother. We're already disliked enough around here."

"Yeah, I understand. Just thought you might want to know that I missed you." She gave a very girlish giggle. "Oh, what am I saying?" She then covered her face with her hands and began to blush. This was pathetic. She hoped that Yun was as desperate as he seemed, otherwise she was out of luck.

"I missed you, too." Yeah, he was desperate. "Do you want me to buy you a drink?"

"Sure!"

- - - - -

Carth watched Catra in surprise. She was acting… girly. It was rather strange. He noticed that she had her weapons positioned so that they were less noticeable. A difficult feat, but it didn't seem like Yun had commented on it. Carth nearly choked on his drink in surprise.

Catra was giggling. The world was about to explode.

He decided that he couldn't watch any more of this, and decided to try and get some more information. He headed off to the bar and took a seat.

"What'll it be?" the bartender asked when he saw the man sitting there.

"Got any gizer?"

"Sure thing," the bartender plopped a glass down in front of Carth.

"Thanks. Hey, do you know much about Taris?"

The bartender leaned onto the counter. "Been here for thirty years, so I hope so. You an offworlder?"

"Yeah. I'm just trying to get my bearings around here. Think you could tell me a little about the place?" Carth had already discovered that the 'lost offworlder' routine was most effective in gathering information. It allowed him to probe sensitive subjects without people thinking him an idiot.

"Well, it's a nice enough place. I'd normally tell you to stay out of the lower city, but I doubt you'll be going down there anytime soon."

"Why not?"

"Well, most people don't go down unless they've got business there. Especially now that the Sith have it locked down tight."

"You're making it sound like they still go down there."

"Well, that's because they do. The Sith are a bunch of idiots if they think that they can stop people from going to other parts of the planet. There's about a million different holes for people to go through. They've just blocked off most of the big ones."

"Well I thought that they had this quarantine well-enforced."

"They do, mostly. They're keeping people from leaving the planet, and they've stopped all of the law-abiding citizens from going between sectors or levels. It's just the gangs and the Exchange people that aren't locked up."

"If they've got holes in the planetary quarantine, then they must have some in the orbital quarantine."

The bartender chuckled slightly. "Don't we all wish? Nah, y'see, they've got these auto-targeting laser cannons all around the planet. Anyone who goes out there gets vaporized. Except for the Sith, that is."

"How does that work?"

"Who knows? Maybe the cannons don't target Sith ships, maybe they turn them all off, whatever."

Carth nodded. They would need to figure that out. He would ask Catra to ask Yun about it later. "You said something about the Exchange around here?"

"Oh yeah. I wouldn't worry about them if I were you. They don't usually bother the offworlders. Just be polite and don't cause any trouble and Davik should leave you alone."

"Davik?"

"Davik Kang. He's Taris' local crime boss. I don't know too much about him, and I'd like to keep it that way."

Carth nodded. "I certainly understand you there." He took a deep drink and sighed. He wondered how Catra was faring with Yun.

- - - - -

"And then I figured, 'why wait and let others do the fighting?' So I joined," Yun said, taking a sip of Cassandran Brandy. He seemed to be trying to show off his wealth to Catra.

"That's great," she said, a smile still plastered to her face. It was getting rather tiring, but she had to keep it up. "So that's how you joined. That's a lot of courage, most people don't have that."

He smiled broadly. "Really?" He was a little like a child, really. It was as if mommy and daddy had just told him that he'd made them proud. Seeing its effects on a grown man was rather pitiful.

"Yeah," she said. "I mean, you're out here risking your life for everyone. A lot of those people don't even like you, but you're still helping them. That's selflessness."

"I guess you're right," he said. His chrono suddenly began beeping loudly. "Oh, blast. I've got to get back to the base. I… um… I'd really like to see you again. Where do you live?"

Oh, frack. She couldn't tell him the real address, but he'd discover a fake too quickly. "Actually," she said, thinking fast. "Things are a little up in the air for now. It's hard to find someplace to stay with this quarantine. Maybe we could just meet up here again."

He seemed a little disappointed, but nodded. "Well, I usually get off shift around the time I came in today. So will I see you tomorrow?"

"Of course! I'd love to see you again."

He beamed at her and walked off. Once he was gone, Catra stood up. She quickly looked around and saw Carth sitting at the bar, talking to the bartender. She plopped down next to him.

"How'd it go?" he asked. He waved to the bartender and the man walked off.

"Well, I didn't get any information, if that's what you're asking. He kept trying to show off, so I didn't get a chance to ask him anything. I know that he'll be here tomorrow, so I'll ask him some questions then." She put her arms around her torso. "I also feel like I need a shower. There's something… wrong about that guy. I don't know what it is, but something's wrong."

"Could it be the fact that he's a Sith?" Carth said dryly.

"Being a Sith does not make one evil, Carth."

"Funny, I thought it did. And don't call me that in public."

"Sorry. And it doesn't. Some people just get in with the wrong group, some are misled, there's lots of reasons that someone could become Sith. It just happens to attract evil people. I don't think that Yun is evil, but he's not exactly a Jedi, either."

Carth nodded. "We should get some lunch and get back to the apartment. I've got some information that I need to tell you about."

"Right."

- - - - -

"So we may not need Yun to get into the Undercity after all," Carth finished. Catra seemed to be contemplating everything carefully.

She nodded. "You may be right. We should start looking around, trying to find these other ways down. Until then, we should keep Yun handy."

"Why should we keep him?"

Catra chuckled. "You obviously don't work in intelligence. You're thinking too much like a soldier. We always need a plan 'B'. And, if we happen to get what we need out of Yun before we find another way down, then it will have paid off. I don't like it any more than you do, but we've got to keep him around."

Carth sighed and nodded. "If you think he's so important, we'll keep him around. We can also figure out from him how the Sith get past their laser cannons. We're going to need to do the same thing when we get out of here."

"Right. Let's get going, explore the area more."

- - - - -

The two Republic soldiers were exploring a group of shops when they heard a loud jeer. They turned to see an attractive female Twi'lek running down the street.

"Filth!" a man shouted. "Scourge upon the face of our beautiful planet!" He was standing on a small podium, a small crowd gathered around him.

The Twi'lek continued on, trying to avoid the crowd.

Catra pointed her thumb towards the shop that the Twi'lek entered. "Might as well start there." Carth nodded and they entered the shop. A large sign above the door proclaimed it to be 'Janice Nall's Droid Exchange'.

As soon as they opened the door and stepped inside, the Twi'lek whirled around at them. _"Colu, I'm calling the Sith!"_ She stopped when she saw who it was. _"Oh. I apologize. I thought you were someone else."_ She sighed and put down the hydrospanner that she had been holding. She moved over to a small counter and stood behind it. _"What can I do for you?"_

Catra looked around the room. It smelled strongly of oil and grease, and half-built droids lined the walls. Two astromech droids stood near the counter. One of them was brightly polished, while the other had strange whirring sounds coming from it.

"Who is Colu?" Carth asked. "Is it that man outside?"

_"So you heard him. Yes, he's been bothering me for quite a while. He's part of some 'Anti-Alien League'. They think that all aliens should leave Taris. To preserve the 'sanctity of their fair planet' or something like that. Most of them have no problems with Twi'lek like me, just so long as we're dancing in their cantinas."_ She sighed. _"But you came for droids, not a list of my problems. I'm Janice Nall, what can I help you with?"_

"Well, we were just exploring the area," Catra said. "And I've always had an interest in droids." She nodded towards the astromech droids. "T3 units?"

_"That's right,"_ Janice said, brightening up. _"The one on the left is called T3-M4, top-of-the-line model. Expert slicer, he can be equipped with most standard blaster pistols, he'll do just about anything! Unfortunately for you, he's reserved for a very special customer. The other one is T3-H8, a reconditioned model. I did the work on him myself; he was a real mess when he came in. He's not as good as the M4 unit, but he's still quite useful. Navigation, data storage, fair slicing equipment. A real bargain."_

Catra nodded. She couldn't help but notice how warmly the woman talked about the droids. If what they'd seen was any indication, she probably spent more time with them than with people. "Sounds pretty good," she said. "Do you have any other kinds of droids?"

_"Oh, many."_ She turned towards the back room, then stopped. She turned back to them, now looking quite depressed. _"Err… actually, I don't. The Sith, you see. They took all of my combat-ready models. I think they were worried that someone would use them to rise up against the occupation."_ She sighed.

"But you said that the M4 model is combat-ready," Carth said.

_"Ah, that. I failed to mention that to the Sith. I hope that you won't, either."_

"No," Catra said, chuckling. "We're not going to tell the Sith." She looked around the room. "Well, I don't think we're in need of any droids right now," she said. Janice looked rather disappointed. "But don't worry. We'll come back if we need anything." She smiled at the Twi'lek, who seemed to brighten up a little. "See ya around."

She waved, and the two Republic soldiers left the shop. Catra immediately started towards the man standing on a podium.

"Wait," Carth said, grabbing her arm. She turned to look at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to talk to Colu," Catra said, matter-of-factly. "Why?"

"That's what I was going to ask you. Why?"

She shrugged. "Why not?"

"Because he's a racist bigot?"

"And? Doesn't mean we can't talk to the guy."

"But what's the point?" Carth nearly shouted. This woman made absolutely no sense!

"He might know something."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, that's why I want to talk to him!"

"Listen," he pulled her to the side of the road, out of the way of everyone else. "We can't just go asking everyone questions. It's best that we keep our heads out of some things." She merely looked at him skeptically. "Do you understand? We can't be taking risks like that. It's bad enough that you're fraternizing with a Sith. Do you understand?"

She studied him for a moment, then sighed. "Yeah, I guess so. We should keep exploring the area, though."

"Of course."

The two started off, walking past the group. It seemed to consist mostly of his detractors, rather than supporters.

"We must cleanse our planet of this pox that infects our society!" Colu said. "I, Gorton Colu, and the rest of my Anti-Alien League, are working hard to save our culture!" A few people stepped away from the crowd. "A cleansing is coming! Soon, we shall free our planet of this cancer! You!" He pointed towards Carth. Carth froze in surprise.

"So much for not taking risks," Catra whispered to him, trying hard not to laugh.

"You just left the store of one of these creatures," Colu said. "Do you stand with me?"

"Uhh…" Carth looked to Catra, pleading for help. She only shook her head, trying her hardest to suppress her mirth. "Well… She seemed nice, actually."

"Yes, the deceiver! Those head-tailed enchantresses have bewitched stronger men than you! As a victim, will you join me in my crusade?"

Carth's eyes widened in shock. "No! No, of course not!"

Colu snorted. "You are just like all the rest. You shall burn with the other alien lovers when the end comes! Leave me!" Carth began walking away quickly, just barely keeping from running. They turned the corner and Catra began laughing.

"What is so funny?" Carth asked. His face was red with embarrassment.

"Nothing," Catra gasped out. "It's just… your face! When he said that!" She raised her hand and pointed directly at him. "You!" she mocked. She began laughing again.

"You have a strange sense of humor," he said, still heading as quickly away from the scene as possible.

"Not all that strange," she said, now succeeding to stifle her laughs. She wiped a tear from her eye. "Ah, I haven't laughed like that in a while." She took a deep breath and seemed to become completely calmed. "Okay, back to business. Where to next?"

Carth grit his teeth firmly. She seemed to be taking a lot of pleasure in his discomfort. "Let's go back to the apartment," he said. "Get some dinner."

"Sure."

- - - - -

Upon entering the apartment, Catra immediately bounded over to the refrigeration unit and pulled out one of the pre-prepared meals that they'd bought. She heated it up and sat on the couch to eat it. Carth joined her soon after.

"So…" she said in a drawl. "Tell me about yourself, Carth."

Carth shrugged. "Not much to tell. I fought in the Mandalorian wars before these, was in lots of battles."

"I wasn't asking about your service record," Catra sighed. "Military men. I was asking about **you**."

"Oh," he said, slightly taken aback. "Well… what do you want to know?"

"Anything! Your homeworld, your family, your friends, your hobbies. That sort of thing."

"Why do you want to know?"

"Well, we're probably going to be spending a lot of time together, so we should get to know each other."

He took a bite of his food and sighed. "I guess so. Well, I'm from Telos."

Catra froze. "Oh…" Telos was a small farming planet, and she had only been there once, but she didn't need to ask anything about it. It was famous now. Ever since the beginning of the war, when Malak had destroyed it on a whim. The planet was now a lifeless rock, floating through space. The only atmosphere that it had left was corrosive and toxic, and nothing could survive there.

"I'm sorry," she said. She put down her food. She'd lost her appetite.

"Don't be," he said quietly. "You weren't the one who bombed it."

"Still…"

"I just don't like to talk about it."

Silence filled the room for a few moments, during which Catra managed to eat a few bites.

"What about you?" Carth said, obviously just trying to fill the silence. "What's your homeworld?"

"You wouldn't have heard of it," she said quickly. She was eager to fill the silence. "Besides, I spent most of my childhood on a ship."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. I moved to a ship when I was young, I barely remember anything about my homeworld. We moved from world to world, and we never really stayed too long in one place."

"Ah. Merchants?"

"Something like that," Catra said. They were similar to merchants. They just… didn't always pay for their goods. Or let the authorities know that they had any. It was a very interesting way for a child to grow up. "But it was a good life," she said with a smile.

"Doesn't sound that great to me," Carth said.

"Don't think that we weren't stable. We always had a steady income, and we had each other, too."

"You were close to your parents?"

Catra hesitated slowly. If she said yes then the subject would be dropped. If she answered honestly, then he would want to know more. "Not my birth parents, no." Honesty, then.

"Then who?"

"The people who I considered to be my parents. I wasn't raised by my birth parents."

"Why not?"

"They wouldn't have been very good parents," she said, standing up to throw away her plate. Carth looked at her expectantly. She sighed. "They were dead."

As she left the room, she couldn't help but notice that Carth was silent. She came back to the living room and saw that he was sitting still.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't be," she replied. She crossed the room and went to enter the bedroom. Before she closed the door, she turned back to him. "You didn't kill them."


	10. Ch 9: Shopping

Some People Change:

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Author's note: Um… hi. There is a good reason why I haven't updated for so long. I'm not giving up on this story (never!), but I wasn't able to write for about a month. First off, the chapter that I was working on was eaten by the computer. As in, not deleted, not messed up, just gone. My father, who is paid by the government to program computers, was only able to save part of it. That kinda screwed up my motivation for a while. Then I went house sitting, with only a computer that had Vista. As I was nervous already about screwing up my documents and had heard lots of horror stories about Vista, I didn't do any writing. For a month. Now I'm back, and hopefully will get back on schedule. As much as I ever was, at least. Except possibly for next week. On Saturday, I'll be going up to visit my brother, his wife, and the BRAND NEW BABY (!!) for a week. I probably won't be able to post any new chapters during that week. I'll try to get something up on Friday, but I don't know.

Chapter 9

Catra looked around the cantina. They had arrived a little later than they had the previous morning, so they hoped to meet Yun just as he arrived. Sure enough, he was seated in the lounge. He was looking around nervously.

"There he is," Carth said quietly. "I still don't like this."

Catra snorted derisively. "**You** don't like it? I'm the one that has to talk to him. You just have to play the older brother." She waved him away. "Now go on, I'll meet up with you at the bar when I'm done." Carth nodded and walked off.

She walked up to Yun, trying to appear innocent but interested. "Hi there," she said with a wave.

"Oh! Hi!" He stood up and walked over to her. "I was hoping you'd come."

"Why wouldn't I?" she said, a smile covering her features.

"I seem to scare off most women."

"Really?" Of course he did. He radiated desperation. No one wanted to be around that. "I wonder why?"

He shrugged. A sudden bright look crossed his features. "Hey, do you want to go somewhere?"

Public places only, please. "Sure! Where were you thinking of?"

"Well, what would you like to do?"

"Whatever," she said, dismissively. "Whatever you want to do should be fine."

"Okay," he said slowly. He seemed to be racking his brains about what women liked to do. "Why don't I take you shopping?"

She had to try very hard to keep her smile in place. She hated shopping. At least, she hated the shopping that he would want to take her to. She didn't care about clothing, she didn't wear makeup, and it took a lot to get her to wear jewelry. "I don't have much money," she said.

"I'll pay."

She was about to say something else to discourage him, but then she got a glance at his face. Frack. He seemed so hopeless.

"Okay. Let's go."

- - - - -

Catra looked around at the various shops and stands. This wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. She and Yun were actually having a fairly engaging conversation, and some of the products were interesting to look at.

They turned into a jewelry store.

"Do you want some earrings?" Yun asked, pointing at a display by the counter. "I noticed that your ears are pierced, but you're not wearing any."

"Oh," she said, reaching over and touching one of her earlobes. "I had some, but I lost them." She'd almost forgotten. She'd had a pair of earrings that she used to wear every day, until the accident. Now they were probably broken into microscopic pieces, scattered somewhere over the surface of Polmanar. She leaned in to look at the display.

"Looking for anything in particular, miss?" the shopkeeper asked.

"Not really," she said. She glanced over the earrings briefly. She'd never been interested in jewelry, except for those earrings. Unfortunately, she wasn't likely to find another pair like them. They did have some nice earrings here, just not any for her. Intricate twists of wire, precious stones, pearls… She did a double take at one set of earrings.

She raised a hand and pointed at the earrings. "Are those…?"

"Ah," the shopkeeper smiled. He unlocked the case and pulled them out. They weren't much to look at, really. Each post was attached to a regular round pearl, while another pearl hung from the first. The hanging pearls were more interesting, though, as they were black and formed into a curious teardrop-shape.

"These," he said, "are a very unique item. I found them on a recent trip, when I was forced to make an emergency landing on a small Rim world. These earrings are worn there by women after their first menstruation. It's a sign of adulthood among the women. The planet is called-"

"Deralia," Catra finished, looking in fascination at the pearls.

"You've been there, I take it." She looked up at him to answer, but he spoke before she could. "Never mind. You're Deralian."

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. "How did you know?"

"Your eyes. Gray eyes are very rare in most parts of the galaxy, but it seemed like everyone had them on Deralia."

She nodded. "I'd forgotten about that. I haven't been back in a while." She looked at the earrings longingly. "So are these made from real Deralian pearls?"

The shopkeeper nodded proudly. "Yes, ma'am. Only Deralian pearls look like that. You can find black pearls on most planets with water, but only Deralian oysters will make them in that shape."

"Do you mind if I check?"

"Go ahead."

She picked up one of the earrings and looked at it closely. On the surface, it appeared to be real. She raised it too her mouth and rubbed it against her tooth. Yun jumped in surprise, as it looked like she was about to eat them. The jeweler, however, recognized the motion and didn't move to stop her. The surface was rough, a sure sign that it was real. She put it back down and smiled.

"Yeah, they're real." What were the odds of that? When she'd first menstruated, she'd checked every shop that she could, with no luck. She'd been forced to special order them from Deralia. "How much?"

"Two hundred credits." Well, that was out. They were strapped for cash, and she really couldn't be spending any money on earrings. No matter how rare they were or how important.

"I'll buy them," Yun said. Catra turned to look at him, the shock evident on her face.

"But they're so expensive!" she said.

"That's okay. You want them, right?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"That's all that I need." He turned back to the shopkeeper. "Two hundred, you said?"

"You really don't have to," Catra said as he handed over the money.

"I know," he said. The man handed over the earrings, and Yun passed them to her. "But you want them."

Catra stammered slightly as she looked at them. Not knowing what to say, she put them on. It felt like some part of her had been missing all this time since the accident, and now it had been returned to her. It felt good. She closed her eyes and smiled.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

He smiled brightly back at her. "You're welcome." He opened his mouth to say something more, but was interrupted by his chrono beeping. "Oh, shavit."

"You need to get back to the base?" she said. She was surprised that she almost felt sad that he had to go.

"Yeah," he said. He seemed to be glaring at the timepiece as if it was responsible. He sighed and looked back to Catra. "I'd better get going. Do you want me to drop you off somewhere?"

"No, I'll walk. It's a nice day out." She found herself smiling at the thought. It would be nice to have some alone time. There wasn't anything wrong with Carth, but it was rare lately that she could be alone.

"Okay." He started to leave the shop, but stopped and turned back to look at her when he reached the door. "I had a good time today."

"Me too." His smile seemed to widen to twice its normal size and he left. "Funny thing is," Catra muttered, looking at his retreating back. "I actually did."

- - - - -

Without the aid of Yun's speeder, Catra took almost half an hour walking back to the cantina. She arrived to see Carth standing by the bar, looking nervously around. The minute that he laid his eyes on her, he immediately ran over.

"Where have you been?" he asked. He was livid. She supposed that he had reason to be, since she had left with a Sith and been gone for several hours.

"I was out with Yun," she replied calmly. She didn't want to make him any madder than he already was. "You know, the Sith?" But it was still fun to tweak him.

"You didn't tell me that you would be leaving the cantina!"  
"I didn't know that we would be until Yun suggested it."

"Well you should have said-" Carth stopped suddenly. "What are you wearing?"

Catra looked down at herself in confusion. She was wearing the same thing that she'd left the apartment in. It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the earrings. "Oh," she said, touching a pair gently. "Yun bought me some earrings."

"Earrings? You were out buying earrings?"

"These aren't just any earrings," she said, smiling at the familiar sensation. It was nice to have them back. "These are traditional Deralian womanhood earrings."

"And do you know many traditional Deralian women?"

"Yes."

Carth obviously wasn't expecting that answer, as it took him a few moments to say anything else. "Where?"

"You're looking at her. Actually, I'm not all that traditional. If I were, then I would be back home working a farm with a husband, several children, and a cluster of Growth Trees on the front yard already."

Carth seemed surprised by her reaction. "They're from your homeworld?"

"Yeah, genius. I'm Deralian. Ever been there?"

"No."

"Thought so." She plopped down onto a bar stool and checked her chrono. She still had a few minutes before Ajuur wanted her to report for her duel. Plenty of time to relax. She ordered a drink with very little alcohol and sat back.

Carth stepped in front of her. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Not now," she muttered. "Can't you just let me relax for a few minutes?"

"I'm not done discussing what you did."

"What, my job?"

"That's what you call it?"

"Yes!" She slammed her drink down on the table and stood up, her previous good mood gone. Carth's paranoia had stripped it from her. Their faces were now inches away from each other. "I didn't ask him to take me out shopping, but I agreed to it! If I had my choice, I'd have slapped him and left! I didn't, though. And do you know why? Because it's my job!" She sat back down and took a sip of her drink. How dare he accuse her of being unprofessional! She couldn't help feeling a little like she was lying, though. Sure, it hadn't been her idea to go shopping, but she'd still enjoyed it.

Carth took a seat next to her. "You looked awfully friendly with him."

"It's called acting, flyboy." Mostly. She checked her chrono again. "Oh, shavit. I've got to go." She downed her drink and placed a few credits on the counter. She began to run for the duelist's room, but found Carth blocking her path. "What?"

"Where are you going?"

"In case you've forgotten, the Mysterious Stranger has an appointment with Gerlon Two-Fingers." She shoved her way past him and ran for the duelist's room. He followed closely behind. She stopped at the door and saw him right behind her. "Oh, c'mon!" she sighed.

"You're not going to do that duel."

"And you're going to stop me?"

"I'm bigger than you."

Catra looked him over critically. That was certainly true. Even if they got into a fight where she was using her vibroblades and he was barehanded, there was the chance that he could overpower her. Shavit. "Why don't you want me to do the duel?"

"I told you before, it's too risky."

"I'm taking every precaution I can think of! And I don't know about you, but I tend to have a need to eat. Have you been bringing in any money?"

Carth gritted his teeth in an attempt to stay calm. It looked like she'd struck a nerve. "Fine. But mark my words, this will end badly."

"Sure, sure," Catra said, patting him on the back. "Be sure to watch on the viewscreen!"

She entered the small room, closing the door behind her, and took a seat. She pulled a black scarf out of one of the pockets on her vest and began to tie it around her face when the door opened again. Gerlon Two-Fingers walked in.

"So you're the stranger," he said, taking a seat near her. He opened one of the lockers that lined the walls and pulled out a vibroblade. "I haven't fought many women before."

She finished tying her scarf. "And you're Gerlon," she said. The scarf muffled her voice enough that it wasn't recognizable, but he could still understand her. To be completely honest, she hated it. She'd always been a little claustrophobic, especially when it came to things over her face. It put her on edge. At least her vision wasn't obstructed, which was quite possibly the only thing that kept her from shaking.

"So you've heard of me. Don't think that just because I can't use three of my fingers that I'll be easy to beat. I can still shoot straight and fight with a vibroblade."

She nodded in recognition of what he'd said. Even if her voice was muffled, she didn't like to speak too much. A loud buzzer sounded over the intercom, signaling that it was time for the fighters to head out to the ring. "Good luck," she said. He only grunted in acknowledgement.

- - - - -

Carth stood next to one of the viewscreens, pushed on all sides by the people who had come to watch the duel. This had certainly garnered more excitement than the previous duel. The Hutt in the corner could be heard chortling with excitement. The screens flickered to life and the entire crowd was silenced.

It showed the same dueling arena, though with many more seats filled than last time. "Welcome," the announcer called, "to another battle of the Sector 371 Upper Taris dueling ring! We all saw yesterday how the Mysterious Stranger took down Deadeye Duncan. Now she has come again to take on Gerlon Two-Fingers! I hope that all your bets are down, because it's time for this match to start!"

The buzzer sounded and Catra unsheathed her vibroblades. She began running toward Gerlon, swerving occasionally to avoid a blaster shot. She was mere yards away from him when she didn't move in time. A single blaster shot hit her left arm. She stumbled slightly as cries came from the audience. Carth realized that he was holding his breath. Her left arm began shaking with the effort of holding up the blade, and she dropped it. As she got closer, Gerlon threw away his blaster and pulled out his vibroblade.

She obviously wasn't used to fighting with a single blade, and was hampered slightly by her arm. Luckily for her, Gerlon wasn't very good with a blade, and failed to notice when she left herself open by accident. She, however, was at least used to melee fighting in general. As he swung horizontally at her, leaving one side completely open, she stabbed upwards at him. He stumbled backwards in pain and threw aside his weapon, signaling his surrender.

Medic droids began swarming the two fighters as Gerlon collapsed from pain.

"Well, that was intense!" the announcer shouted over the cheers of the crowd. "The mysterious stranger managed to defeat Gerlon despite her wound!" They could see as she retrieved her vibroblade, waving off the medic droids. She sheathed it carefully, her eyes narrowing in pain.

"What are you doing?" Carth muttered. "Let the droids help you!"

"You've certainly shown that you have guts, Stranger," the announcer continued. "But do you have the skill that it takes to defeat Ice? We'll see next time!"

The viewscreen deactivated and the crowd began to disperse. Carth immediately made his way back to the small door that led to the duelist's room. The Rodian guard placed one hand on his blaster.

"I'm the Stranger's brother," Carth said to the guard. He didn't move. Before Carth could say anything else, the door opened to reveal Catra. She had tied the black scarf around her arm.

"Hi," she said calmly as she left. "How are you?"

"How's your arm?" Carth asked. She waved him off.

"It'll be fine. I used a medpac, so it'll hold until I get to a doctor."

"Why didn't you let the medic droids look after you?"

"I never trust those things. I've seen too many that malfunctioned and killed their patients." She looked past Carth and waved. Carth turned to see an old man approaching them. "Marl," she said with a smile.

"Hello, Stranger," he said. He turned to Carth. "I'm another duelist. Just thought that I'd congratulate your friend on her victory."

"Thanks," Catra said. "Hey, do you know of any good doctors in this area?"

"Only the best. His name is Zelka Forn. His place is just down the street. It's small, but clean. He can take care of most injuries. I go to him for my dueling injuries."

"Thank you," Carth said. "We'd better go see him."

Catra nodded and the two headed off.

"How serious is it?" Carth asked.

"Not very," Catra said. "The dueling ring has energy suppressors that keep any blasters from doing lethal damage. They also turn off the sonic vibrations of vibroblades. I just hope they were enough for that guy."

"Who, Gerlon?"

"Yeah. I think that I might have done some lasting damage. I tried to avoid any vital organs or major blood vessels, but I'm not sure." She stopped before a small building. "This looks like it."

She entered the building, Carth close behind. They seemed to be in a reception area, with only a small desk. A man sat behind it, playing some sort of card game on a datapad.

"Excuse me," Carth said to the man. He only held up a hand and pressed a button on the desk.

"Zelka, customers," he said to a speaker on the desk.

"I'm coming," a voice responded.

A few seconds later, a door opened revealing a man in a doctor's coat. His dark skin was wrinkled and his black hair was streaked with gray, but his hands were steady. "What can I do for you?"

"Blaster wound," Catra said, pointing to her arm. The doctor shook his head wearily.

"Come with me," he said, indicating the room that he'd come from.

Catra started to follow him, but stopped when Carth grabbed her uninjured arm. "What?"

Carth leaned down and whispered in her ear, "That's the doctor that took care of you when we arrived!"


	11. Ch 10: Zelka

**Some People Change:**

**A SW:KOTOR Novelization**

By Elina Trevisan

Author's note: Well, looks like I made it. I'm going up tomorrow, and this counts as an update for next week. I finally got that chapter that was eaten by my computer rebuilt and completed. It's… a bit longer than most. As in about a thousand words longer. But there was no good place to stop it! It still doesn't end very well, actually. I just had to cut it off. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this normal-length chapter. And I might remind you that some inconsistencies that show up in this chapter and later ones are intended. Please enjoy!

Chapter 10

"Are you sure?" Catra asked, looking over the man carefully.

"Positive."

"Is something wrong?" Dr. Forn asked. He looked at the two of them curiously. If he recognized either of them, he wasn't doing anything to show it.

"No," Catra said with a small smile. "Nothing's wrong." She followed him into the examination room, Carth close behind her. The doctor closed the door behind them.

"Take a seat here," he said, indicating a bed that sat in the middle of the room. Catra did as he asked and he removed the scarf. She winced slightly as he peeled it away.

"The blood congealed," he said, examining the wound, "attaching the cloth to the cut. Let me clean this up." He began wiping it with something, and Catra tried hard not to make any noise. "Well, this doesn't look too bad. Some kolto, a bandage, and some antibiotics should take care of it." He gave her a small injection of kolto and began working on the wound.

He had given no indication that he recognized them, and probably wasn't going to. Catra decided to take things into her own hands.

"So do you treat many blaster wounds?" she asked.

"Around here? Heavens, yes. I know better than to ask how my patients got them."

"I guess that's important being a doctor in this area. Never ask too many questions."

"That's right."

"Yeah, you never know who your patient might be. Could be an Exchange operative or even a Republic fugitive." He hesitated slightly at her words. It was only a momentary pause, but Catra noticed it. "Do you treat many Republic fugitives?"

"I don't know."

"I'll bet you do. Seeing as how a pod landed around here, one of them was bound to be injured. I'll bet they came to you. Of course, they wouldn't advertise that fact." Her voice was casual, but the air was tense.

"If you're insinuating something," he began, no longer even pretending to be working on her wound. By now, she doubted that he recognized her. The fact that he wasn't giving her away was a good sign. He obviously wasn't willing to betray her to anyone.

"I'm not insinuating anything. I'm thanking you." He looked at her in confusion for a moment. He looked back at Carth, and he finally seemed to comprehend.

"I see…"

"If it weren't for you, then I could be dead."

"Don't mention it. To anyone."

"Don't worry," Catra said. "We want attention for this even less than you do."

"So long as I'm working on you, I might as well check on those stitches," he sighed. She leaned her head forward and he looked at the stitches on the back of her head. "You seem to be healing quite fast, even with the kolto. I'd better remove these." He retrieved some scissors and began to cut them out. "Please tell me that this blaster shot wasn't from a Sith."

"Nah," Catra said dismissively. "Nothing that dramatic. I'm participating in the dueling ring, and a guy got off a lucky shot."

"Oh," Dr. Forn said with interest. "So you're the Mysterious Stranger. I was watching the duel in my office. I'd have thought that you'd want to be a little more careful about drawing attention."

"That's what I thought," Carth said smugly.

"What's with you people?" Catra said, starting to sit up. A firm hand from Dr. Forn held her back down. "No one knows that it's me!"

"Dr. Forn," Carth said, ignoring her outburst. The doctor held up one hand.

"Please, call me Zelka."

"Zelka, then. Do you know anything about any other survivors from the battle?"

Zelka bit his lip for a moment. "Yes, somewhat. Let me finish here and I'll show you." He finished with the sutures in silence, and then fastened a bandage on Catra's arm. "Very well. Come with me."

He led them to one of the doors in the room. "KOLTO TANKS, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY," was written in large letters on the door. He entered a code in a number pad that sat next to the door, and it swished open.

The room was, as to be expected, lined with kolto tanks, most of them occupied.

"Recognize anyone?" Zelka asked, leading them inside.

Carth and Catra looked around, checking each person's face carefully. Some of them looked vaguely familiar to Catra, but she couldn't place any of them.

"They're Republic soldiers," Carth said quietly. "I didn't know any of them personally, but I recognize them." He turned back to Zelka in confusion. "But what are they doing here? I thought that everyone but us in this area had been caught."

"In the Upper and Lower city, yes. However, I've got an arrangement with one of the Lower City gangs. They've brought these people in from the Undercity." He sighed and placed one hand on one of the kolto tanks. "Unfortunately, there's not much that I can do for these people. Most of them are too far gone. The ones that still have a chance… well… I'm not holding my breath."

"Thank you," Carth said, turning to the doctor. "At least you're giving them a chance."

"It was the least I could do."

"At least these guys aren't ending up with the Sith," Catra said. She turned and left the small room. Carth and Zelka followed her, only lingering slightly to look at the injured soldiers. "So how much do we owe ya, doc?"

"Don't worry about it. It was really just a patch job. Just don't get in any more fights for at least a week."

"No promises," Catra said. She hopped back up on the bed. "So is there anything we could help you with? It's the least we could do."

"Not really," the doctor said, putting away the scissors that he'd used on Catra's sutures. "The clinic isn't in need of anything right now. I know where to find you if I need something, though. Unless you've changed apartments?"

"No," Carth said. "We're still in the one you showed me."

"You might want to consider moving. It would probably be safer."

"We'll be fine," Catra said. "We've already had to deal with some minor Sithy issues, but we're fine."

"The Sith have come for you?" Zelka said, staring at them in shock.

"Not really. We just got caught up in a random inspection, that's all." She hopped off the bed. "We'd better be going. We'll come and see you if we have any more problems." She opened the door and the two Republic fugitives walked out.

- - - - -

"So," Catra said, flexing her wounded arm carefully. "Where to?"

"I was thinking of going back to the apartment," Carth said. "We probably shouldn't do too much more today."

"Why not?" Catra asked. She walked over to a nearby railing and looked down into the lower city. "You know, the Lower City is pretty hard to get to, even though it's so close. Too bad we can't just jump down there." She frowned as a Sith patrol vehicle ambled into view. "Stupid patrols," she muttered.

"Why not?" Carth repeated. "Doesn't your arm hurt?"

Catra shrugged. "Not really. It wasn't that bad. The doctor said so, too. I'm ready to keep working. Let's go do something!"

Carth took her good arm and pulled her away from the railing. "Sorry, but I'm vetoing that idea. We can do a planning session back at the apartment."

Catra pulled her arm away. "I've got a burn, but I can still walk. But fine, so long as we're not just sitting around." With that, they started off back towards the apartment.

They stayed in companionable silence for most of the walk, until just before they had reached the building, when a loud whistle caused them to turn around. Out of pure reflex, they had their hands on their weapons before they knew what it was. They let their hands fall to their sides when they saw that it was only a couple of drunks.

"Hey, lady," one of the men called. Catra groaned. He approached her and placed one arm around her neck. She quickly brought her vibroblade handle up, crashing it into his groin. He collapsed, barely able to take in a breath. His companions didn't notice. Carth, on the other hand, winced and made an audible squeak at the cracking sound that was issued with the attack.

"Y'wanna come haf some fun?" one of the men slurred.

"No thank you," she said briskly. She started forward to enter the apartment building, but found her way blocked by one of the men. Her hand was still on her blade.

"C'mon," he said. He was close enough to Catra that she could smell the alcohol on his breath. She recoiled in disgust. "Don' be like dat!"

"Get out of my way," she said calmly. He remained standing where he was.

"We jus' wanna haf some-" He was interrupted by another groin hit, and collapsed instantly.

Catra turned to the remaining man. "Would you like to leave me alone?" she asked calmly.

"Uhh…" he looked at the body of his friend, collapsed in pain. "No fanks. I'ma go… somewhere." With that, he stumbled off, only to collapse in a drunken stupor several feet away.

"Let's go," Catra muttered, walking into the building. She turned back to look at Carth when she didn't hear any response. "What is… oh."

Carth was staring at the men on the ground, en expression of abject horror on his face. He likely hadn't noticed it, but his legs had drawn together tightly, and he was beginning to lean forward slightly.

"Oh, come on," she said impatiently, grabbing his arm and pulling him out of his stupor.

"What did you do?" he asked faintly.

"I took care of some drunks."

"You could have hit them on the head!"

"Nah, too much of a chance of brain damage. Besides, if they get drunk this early in the day, then it's probably best that they don't have any children. Let's go!"

She pulled him away from the scene and into the building, all while he was gibbering slightly. She pushed him into a chair when they entered the apartment and looked at him expectantly.

"What?" he asked, still shielding his vital areas.

"What did you expect me to do?"

"I don't know! Let them off easy or something…"

"How was I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know," Carth said with a shrug. "What have you done before?"

Catra only seemed confused. "What do you mean?"

"What do you usually do when men hit on you?"

"Doesn't come up often enough."

"Really?" Carth studied her carefully. She wasn't really beautiful, but she was at least pretty. She seemed to exude a strange aura, which might have turned some men away. It was like a combination of strength, exotic, and 'piss off'. Still, she couldn't have always been like that. It must have come up some time. "Never?"

"Well, a couple of times. Whenever I go to Nar Shadaa I'll run into a drunk or two." She took a seat on the couch beside him. "That's pretty much it. To tell you the truth, most men that I met have always been more interested in my best friend." There was no bitterness in her voice, only a calm statement of fact.

"What was she like?"

"Interested?" Catra asked, raising a brow. "You might want to give up on her, though."

"I'm not interested, just curious. I don't date."

"Of course," she said patronizingly. "Well, she was beautiful. Tall, good figure. She had this great thick blonde hair and these bright blue eyes. She looked so… delicate. Everyone noticed her. She was kind, too. She was always the one holding me back, keeping me out of trouble. She could still kick back and have fun, but she knew when to stop."

Carth watched her give this story with interest. She seemed almost… sad. "What happened to her?" he asked.

"It doesn't matter," she said distantly.

"It does to you."

"But it doesn't to you." She seemed irritated.

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you're just curious. You don't know her, and you hardly know me." Carth was a little hurt by that. Admittedly, he'd only known her for a few days, but he had gotten to know her fairly well in that time.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"She left, alright?" Catra snapped. "That's it. She's gone. She could be dead for all I know. Are you happy?" Without waiting for a response, she headed to their bedroom and slammed the door.

- - - - -

Catra didn't come out all evening, and Carth snuck in late at night to find her asleep in her bed. He went to his own bed and fell asleep. In the morning, he woke up to find her bed empty. He could hear the holo on in the other room and went out to see her.

He found her sitting on the couch, her legs drawn up into her chest. An empty food package sat next to her.

"Caffa's in the kitchen," she said, not looking up at him.

"Thanks," he said. He retrieved the mug that had been poured for him and returned to sit next to her. She remained silent. After a few moments, the silence was becoming unbearable. Carth opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Catra.

"Do you still want to know?"

"I-what?"

"My friend. Do you still want to know what happened between us?"

"Uh… sure."

"We were raised together. We worked together for most of our lives. A couple of years ago, she said that she didn't think that we were doing the right things anymore. That we'd lost our values. She said that she was leaving to do her own thing. I didn't try to stop her or convince her otherwise."

"Oh." Carth was unsure of what to say next. She'd shared something immensely personal with him, something that she'd never done before. "What's her name?"

"It's…" she trailed off, straining to remember. "I don't remember." She chuckled. "I don't remember! I met the girl when I was nine, and she only left a few years ago. Why can't I remember?" She strained for a few moments before she winced slightly. "Ow. Well, so much for that." She raised one hand to her head. "We got any painkillers?"

"Why?"

"Headache. I think that I might have some leftover head trauma."

"From the escape pod crash?"

"That. Or the accident I was in before."

"You're just a walking trouble magnet, aren't you?" he said, getting up to find the painkillers.

"Oh, yeah." He tossed a bottle to her, and she immediately pulled out two pills and downed them dry. "So, we've got some time before Yun gets off shift. What should we do?"

"Zelka."

"No, Catra. Try again."

"We're going to see Zelka. If this headache is from either of your little accidents, then it could be something more serious."

"It's a frelling headache! I'm fine!"

"Let Zelka tell me that."

"Fine, but he'll say that it's just a headache."

- - - - -

"I don't think it's just a headache."

"What?" Catra shouted from inside the large diagnostic machine that she was encased in.

"Hold still!"

She ceased squirming. "What do you mean? What's wrong?"

"You have massive brain damage."

"That's frelling kung!"

"Take a look," he said. Catra clambered out of the machine and ran over to the computer. "This is an image of your brain." He pointed at the display. Most of the areas of the brain were shown in black, red, or blue. Some areas were white, however.

"I know that, di'kute."

He ignored her and pointed to one of the white areas of the brain. "And this is one of the damaged portions of your brain."

"It is not!"

"It is. This is probably what was causing your headache."

"Is this from the escape pod?" Carth asked, staring at the computer in horror.

"No, that injury wasn't this severe. There might have been some minor brain damage from that, but it couldn't be this much. You said that you were in another accident a few months ago?"

"Well… yeah," Catra said. "But that was months ago! The worst that I've been getting is headaches when I try to think too hard!"

"What happened in that accident?"

"My ship blew up as I was entering orbit. I was in a kolto tank for a while, but they said I was fine!"

"And you seem to be. I don't know how, but it seems like your brain has… routed around the damaged areas."

"Is that even possible?" Carth asked.

"This is the first time that I've seen it. I've heard about it, though. What were you thinking about when you got your headache?"

"I was just trying to remember something," Catra said. She still couldn't think of the name of her friend.

"Well, that knowledge might be stored in the damaged areas. When you tried to force yourself to remember, it caused the damaged areas to try anyway."

"So now I've got amnesia?" This day was getting better and better.

"I wouldn't say that. You probably still remember most things, right?"

"I haven't noticed any other gaps, no."

"Then it's probably only a few things. Your brain might even repair itself!"

"Wonderful," Catra grumbled. "Is there anything I can do about it?"

"Just don't try to strain yourself. If you find another one of these blocks, ignore it. You aren't doing yourself any good trying to remember."

"Isn't there anything you can give me to fix my brain?"

"I'm afraid not."

"What about kolto? Kolto fixes everything, right?"

"Kolto is capable of speeding up cellular regeneration," Zelka said patiently, as if explaining these concepts to a small child. "But I don't think it'll make a difference here. Your brain seems to be taking its time healing, if it's healing at all. Besides, you would have to be on constant high doses of kolto for weeks. I doubt that would be very convenient for your… current situation."

"Fine," Catra growled. "Can I go now?"

"Yes. This time you'll have to pay a little. Operating the machinery costs a lot more than bandages."

"Carth brought me here," Catra said, leaving the room without giving them a chance to stop her.


End file.
